George Soros worried that Coronavirus could End the EU

Infamous billionaire and philanthropist of Left-wing causes George Soros believes that the global crisis sparked by the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic could very well spell the end for the European Union.

Soros made the remarks in an interview he gave to the British newspaper The Independent on Monday. “I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union,” he said. “It was in the process of being created. But the process was never completed and that makes Europe 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 added that “the wheels of justice move very slowly, while threats such as the Covid-19 virus move very fast. That creates a particular problem for the European Union.”

The Independent also asked Soros about his opinion regarding the German constitutional court’s ruling last week. The ruling found that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) purchase of German government bonds are unconstitutional. This could present a problem for the ECB’s effort to make loans available for Eurozone countries that have been hit especially hard by the pandemic — Italy and Spain in particular.

“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 said. “Before it delivered its verdict, it had consulted with the European Court of Justice and then decided to challenge it. So you now have a conflict between the German Constitutional Court and the European Court of Justice. Which court has precedence?”

If the German court can overrule judgments by the European Court of Justice, Soros said, that would open the door for any member state to decide whether they want to follow European law or their own law in specific situations.

“That question goes to the very heart of the EU, which is built on the rule of law,” Soros said. “Poland has immediately risen to the occasion and asserted the supremacy of its government-controlled courts over European law. In Hungary, Viktor Orban has already used the COVID-19 emergency and a captured parliament to appoint himself dictator. The parliament is kept in session to rubber-stamp his decrees, which clearly violate European law. If the German court’s verdict prevents the EU from resisting these developments, it will be the end of the EU as we know it.”

“This is the crisis of my lifetime,” Soros opined. “Even before the pandemic hit, I realised 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. And then came COVID-19, which has totally disrupted people’s lives and required very different behaviour.”

“It is an unprecedented event that probably has never occurred in this combination. And it really endangers the survival of our civilisation.”

Similar to the views he expressed in the interview, Soros’ own NGO, the Open Society Foundations, has been particularly keen to attack the Hungarian government over its Wuhan coronavirus emergency legislation for allegedly being undemocratic, as previously reported by Voice of Europe.

Source