Billionaire magnate George Soros speaks out on his prediction that EU is ‘doomed to fail’

The billionaire, once described as the man “who broke the Bank of England”, has previously claimed it was unlikely Theresa May would remain in power over the course of Britain’s European divorce.

Following on from the historic referendum the hedge fund manager warned: “Europe is genuinely doomed to fall apart unless we pull together.

“This is not the time for compromises, we need a fundamental reform to reconstruct it from the ground up.”

GETTY

The Hungarian businessman admitted to exaggerating claims about EU disintegration

I did overstate slightly the danger facing the Europe Union – namely that it is facing disintegration

George Soros

But, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Soros looked to walk back his comments

He told Bloomberg: “I basically summed up my views very concisely, but I did overstate slightly the danger facing the Europe Union – namely that it is facing disintegration.

“That was a slight exaggeration because neither Putin nor China want Europe to disintegrate. Each

"Each have their own reasons – China needs Europe as a market, Putin needs Europe to provide the capacity to produce something because the Putin regime is only capable of exploiting natural resources.

“Therefore, Europe is not going to disintegrate, but coming under the dominance of Putin’s Russia would be a destruction of all the values that Europe stands for.”

BLOOMBERG

George Soros also predicted Britain will rejoin the bloc

While admitting the EU is not in danger, Mr Soros, 86, did predict economic upheaval in the UK in the wake of Brexit.

He said the Prime Minister would not last in her role as she faces up to the difficulties of bringing about a 'clean' or 'hard' Brexit, predicting that Britain could quickly rejoin the EU or enter a successor arrangement once they finally leave the bloc.

“In my opinion it is unlikely that Prime Minister May is actually going to remain in power,” continued the Hungarian hedge fund boss.

“Already she has a very divided cabinet, a very small majority in parliament and I think she will not last.

“At the moment the people in the UK are in denial. The current economic situation is not as bad as was predicted, and they live in hope.

“But the currency depreciates, and inflation will be the driving force, this will lead to declining living standards.

“This is going to take some time, but when it does happen they’ll realise that they are earning less than before because wages won’t rise as fast as the cost of living.”

May's Brexit speech: Europe reacts
Tue, January 17, 2017

Politicians and celebrities tweet their reaction as Theresa May unveils her 12 point plan for Britain leaving the EU.

Play slideshow

Getty Images

1 of 9

The British Prime Minister Delivers Her Brexit Speech

Mr Soros denounced Brexit Secretary David Davis’ views that it will not take long to strike a deal, with the billionaire magnate saying he expects a long and messy divorce.

“The divorce is going to take a very long time. It’s much harder to divorce than to get married, so I think the desire for rapprochement will develop and in theory.

“Maybe even in practice you could have a situation in 2019 or 2020 when Britain will leave the EU because it does have to take place.

"But they could leave on a Friday but join over the weekend and have the new arrangement in place for Monday morning."

Original Article