In a new interview, the left-wing billionaire called the coronavirus pandemic ‘the crisis of my lifetime.’
Left-wing billionaire George Soros has indicated that the coronavirus pandemic paves the way for societal changes previously thought impossible, calling it “the crisis of my lifetime.” Soros had lived through the Second World War as a youth.
“Even before the pandemic hit, I realized that we were in a revolutionary moment where what would be impossible or even inconceivable in normal times had become not only possible, but probably absolutely necessary,” he said during an interview on May 11.
Soros also said that “Europe is facing several existential dangers.”
He was “particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union.” While, according to the Hungarian-born billionaire, the European Union was “in the process of being created,” that process “was never completed.”
Thus, Soros said the EU was “exceptionally vulnerable – more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law.”
Soros also commented on a recent conflict between Germany and the EU. Germany’s highest court had ruled on May 5 that one of the EU’s Court of Justice decisions regarding policies of the European Central Bank (ECB) was not legally binding. In turn, the European Court of Justice asserted that it alone had jurisdiction over the ECB.
In the interview, Soros sided with the EU. “When Germany joined the EU, it committed itself to abide by European law,” he argued.
He voiced his fears that countries like Poland or Hungary might become more independent of the EU, if also “the German court can question the decisions of the European Court of Justice.”
Soros asked, “Can Hungary and Poland decide whether they follow European law or their own courts – whose legitimacy the EU has questioned? That question goes to the very heart of the EU, which is built on the rule of law.”
“Poland has immediately risen to the occasion and asserted the supremacy of its government-controlled courts over European law. In Hungary, Viktor Orbán has already used the COVID-19 emergency and a captured parliament to appoint himself dictator,” Soros claimed.
The last election took place in 2018, and the next one is scheduled for 2020.
Additionally, a new poll has shown that the majority of Hungarians (54 percent) seem to support the measures of the Orbán administration and would vote for him.
“The ruling poses a threat that could destroy the European Union as an institution based on the rule of law, precisely because it was delivered by the German constitutional court, which is the most highly respected institution in Germany,” Soros emphasized.
In the course of the interview, Soros again talked about his idea of having the EU issue perpetual bonds, which he called Consols. With the money created through Consols, he would finance the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as climate change.