It promoted democratically grounded economic, trade and investment policies which foster growth, employment and freedom under the rule of law.

The think-tank was set up in 2005 prior to the Lisbon Treaty by a group of British business to oppose further centralisation of power in the EU.

[3] Rodney Leach and many of the founding supporters of Open Europe had previously backed the Business for Sterling campaign to stay out of the Euro.

Directors of Open Europe have included Neil O'Brien (2005–2008), Lorraine Mullally (2008–2010), Mats Persson (2010–2015), Stephen Booth and Raoul Ruparel as Co-Directors (2015–2017), and Henry Newman (2017–2019).

Its aim in doing so was to "strip the debate of adversarial hyperbole and substitute solid factual ground on which the British people can make this important decision.

Its supporters included business people operating in every sector and across both the UK and Europe, as well as former diplomats and high-profile figures from across the professions.

[13] Open Europe regularly published original research[14] aimed at promoting new ideas among key EU policy makers, business people and academics.

Open Europe's experts regularly appeared in the international media, providing analysis on Brexit and UK and EU politics.

Speakers at Open Europe events have included William Hague,[16] Vincent Cable,[17] Gisela Stuart,[17] Dominic Raab,[18] John Bruton,[19] Norman Lamont,[20] James Brokenshire,[21] Elmar Brok,[20] Nick Boles,[22] and Malcolm Rifkind.

[28] In 2013 Open Europe organised public simulated negotiations over reform of the European Union, and the UK's relationship with it, in a so-called "wargame".

Dr Imke Henkel of German weekly Focus labelled the conference "potentially historic" by "leading towards a constructive British Europe policy, which provides the important impetus towards the necessary reforms of the European Community".

[39] Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Iain Martin called it a "a hugely uplifting gathering", which "would simply not have taken place before the euro crisis almost brought about the collapse of the single currency".

[3] In June 2018, Open Europe published a report entitled Striking a Balance: A blueprint for the future UK-EU economic partnership.

The authors argue: "Giving up some control – or sovereignty – over goods regulation, is a price worth paying for strong market access.

"[43] Elsewhere, former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont has praised Open Europe's vision of a future UK-EU relationship, arguing that its proposals "[deserve] to be considered both in the UK and EU.

However, the same people are left disappointed when Open Europe produces figures and arguments advocating against Greece being forced out of the euro, or when it defends the freedom of movement for European workers which is controversial to many in Britain.