The coronavirus pandemic is an unprecedented event that “really endangers the survival of our civilization,” liberal billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros told the Independent in an interview published on Monday.
Soros said that societies “will not go back to where we were when the pandemic started… But that is the only thing that is certain,” insisting that everything else is up for grabs.”
Soros said he is “particularly concerned about the survival of the EU, because it is an incomplete union. It was in the process of being created. But the process was never completed and that makes Europe exceptionally vulnerable.”
He said that Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling challenging the European Court of Justice “poses a threat that could destroy the European Union as an institution based on the rule of law, [because] if the German court can question the decisions of the European Court of Justice, can other countries follow its example?”
Soros said the EU can raise the funds to deal with the crisis by issuing perpetual bonds, which “would automatically be proportional, and would remain so eternally. The member states would have to pay only the annual interest, which is so minimal – at, say, 0.5%.”
He said that Germany and the “Hanseatic League” states led by the Netherlands should reverse their opposition to this, because “The EU is now considering doubling its budget, which would provide only about €100 billion and yield only one-tenth of the benefit that perpetual bonds could provide."
As for the Untied States, Soros, who is a major Democratic donor, said that “I have put my faith in [President Donald] Trump to destroy himself, and he has exceeded my wildest expectations.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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