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Mario Monti, the former EU competition commissioner, is to chair a new international economics think-tank that aims to foster new policies on Europe's role in the world.
According to an FT article, the French Institute of International Relations is opening an office in Brussels in March, reflecting French government concerns that it needs to recapture the intellectual heights of the EU. French officials have been concerned that Paris has been losing its sway over an increasingly English-speaking EU.
The American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution also plan to open a European version of their joint Centre for Regulatory Studies in association with Sciences Po, France's political science foundation.
Their think-tank, to be based in Paris, will focus initially on regulatory issues in the financial services industry. Its first research reports are due in May. Ivan Mortimer-Schutts, who is helping to establish the centre, said: 'There are an enormous number of think-tanks in Europe but very few that are capable of working on a pan-European basis. We aim to produce policy-relevant results.'
John Palmer, political director of the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think-tank, said: 'We need more think-tanks, especially when you compare the number here with the number in Washington DC.'
Mr Monti's think-tank was proposed two years ago by Jacques Chirac, French president, and Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor, who said Europe needed a fresh approach to issues such as trade, open markets, migration and development.
FT article
Steward Fleming Article
Bruegel website