In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, György Soros formulated messages outlining the geopolitical and economic direction of the coming years. Although climate change would have been one of the key topics of the meeting of the global elite, this time the issue was brought up only tangentially by the speakers, who mostly gave their presentations in connection with the war in Ukraine. This is what the American billionaire did, who called Russia and China the biggest threat to the "free world" and his idea of an open society, what's more:
he also outlined the vision of the third world war , comparing it with the possibility of not defeating Putin.
In his speech, Soros also discussed how he imagines the future of Europe and the European Union from overseas in the shadow of new challenges and threats that suggest the transformation of the world order.
Soros based his presentation of the concept of a "more united Europe" on similar proposals by the leaders of the EU member states. According to him, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and other European leaders want to use the Russian aggression in Ukraine to promote wider European integration in order to "so that what Putin is doing can never happen again" .
Recalling the plan proposal of another former Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, he revealed that he agrees with the idea of a partially federal Europe,
but he would insist that food and climate security be included among the areas of federal cooperation that include foreign and energy policy, asylum, defense, and social and health policy. According to Soros' vision, no member state would have the right of veto in "federal core politics", i.e. in these joint, coordinated and priority matters of the EU.
However, in other policy areas, the member states could join the "coalition of those who want to do it" or could retain their right of veto, the billionaire added.
Although Soros did not specify it in his speech, Letta's original proposal was essentially about the creation of a "European confederation" comprising a total of 36 countries, from the 27 member states of the EU, as well as Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North -It would consist of Macedonia and Serbia. According to him, this would have a double advantage: on the one hand, it would enable the countries standing in line for EU membership to have a seat at the common European table and to have a say in European politics, but at the same time, the gesture would not be associated with their becoming a member state, for which they would have very high expectations.
Soros recalled: French President Emmanuel Macron also argued in favor of the geographical expansion of the union, stressing that the EU must prepare for this. Not only Ukraine, but also Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan states should meet the conditions of membership, noted the stock speculator.
According to him, it will take time to work out the details of EU enlargement, but Europe is moving in the right direction.
This is indicated by the fact that it reacted to the Russian attack in Ukraine faster, more uniformly and more forcefully than ever before in its history, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, also struck a decisive pro-European tone after a hesitant start.
However, according to Soros, the union's dependence on Russian energy carriers is still exaggerated, which the speculator largely attributes to the mercantilist policy of the former German chancellor.
In his speech, the billionaire accused Angela Merkel of concluding special agreements with Russia on gas transport and making China Germany's biggest trading partner. Germany has the best-performing economy in Europe, but now it needs to be reoriented, which has a heavy price and will take a long time, said György Soros.
The current German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was elected because he promised voters the continuation of Merkel's policies and governing style, but events forced him to abandon this continuity, he said. This was not easy, as the chancellor had to break with some of the "hallowed traditions" of his own social democratic party. However, when it comes to maintaining European unity, Scholz always does the right thing in the end. In his eulogy, Soros emphasized that Scholz suspended the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and, breaking with an old taboo, spent 100 billion euros on defense and also sent weapons to Ukraine, the billionaire explained in his speech.
The complete English transcript of György Soros' speech can be read on the Project Syndicate website.
Source: hirado.hu
Photo: MTI/EPA pool/Olivier Hoslet
