Multi-Track Europe – Dysfunctional institutions – Peaceful Brexit – Reinvented EU
The American billionaire warned the EU this week that it was risking its own existence because of “dysfunctional institutions, a persistent austerity policy and outdated treaties.
“If the European Union carries on with business as usual, there is little hope for an improvement,” Soros said.
The Hungarian-born speculator had a lot of advice to give the EU. He said EU countries are interested in more control over their territory, not less as in the EU “ever closer union” doctrine. The UK had already voted to leave the EU, and populist trends in other countries were growing, so the EU should offer a “multi-track” Europe rather than a “multi-speed” one, in order to offer member states more options.
The three things Soros particularly stressed the EU improve their stance on: territorial disintegration, the refugee crisis, and the lack of adequate economic growth.
The upcoming Brexit negotiations would be important, Soros said, so the EU should behave with a “constructive spirit” and resist any urge to try to punish the UK. Brexit will already be damaging and harmful to both sides.
He said the EU should use Brexit negotiations to introduce far-reaching reforms and be “radically reinvented.”