By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
George Soros is back again with a dire warning – the Brexit could lead to the disintegration of the European Union. I noted in his earlier op-ed that Soros only focused on UK concerns with the EU and not with a EU break-up, but that it must surely be on his mind since he has warned that the EU is on the verge of collapse and Brexit now will hasten it. This too was my biggest fear regarding Brexit and even though I think Europe needs to get a hold of its immigration policy I favored remain. It looks like Soros so far is proving right – the IRA is back with demands in Ireland, the Scotts might vote for independence, there is talk of Italy breaking up, the Netherlands leaving the EU and much more all within the past 48 hours. Many people do not know European history well but there are many land disputes which were papered over for the past 70 years or so because of NATO, then the EEC and now the EU. However, with one of those two major institutions gone the worries should start. I could not even begin to list just in Eastern Europe how many countries have border disputes but just one example is Poland and Lithuania regarding the capital of the later (latter?) and that region – if ultra nationalism erupts this could lead to full scale wars.
Anyway, here is what Soros is saying below is brief excerpt from his latest column in Project Syndicate
Now the catastrophic scenario that many feared has materialized, making the disintegration of the EU practically irreversible. Britain eventually may or may not be relatively better off than other countries by leaving the EU, but its economy and people stand to suffer significantly in the short to medium term. The pound plunged to its lowest level in more than three decades immediately after the vote, and financial markets worldwide are likely to remain in turmoil as the long, complicated process of political and economic divorce from the EU is negotiated. The consequences for the real economy will be comparable only to the financial crisis of 2007-2008.
That process is sure to be fraught with further uncertainty and political risk, because what is at stake was never only some real or imaginary advantage for Britain, but the very survival of the European project. Brexit will open the floodgates for other anti-European forces within the Union. Indeed, no sooner was the referendum’s outcome announced than France’s National Front issued a call for “Frexit,” while Dutch populist Geert Wilders promoted “Nexit.”
Moreover, the UK itself may not survive. Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, can be expected to make another attempt to gain its independence, and some officials in Northern Ireland, where voters also backed Remain, have already called for unification with the Republic of Ireland.
The EU’s response to Brexit could well prove to be another pitfall. European leaders, eager to deter other member states from following suit, may be in no mood to offer the UK terms – particularly concerning access to Europe’s single market – that would soften the pain of leaving. With the EU accounting for half of British trade turnover, the impact on exporters could be devastating (despite a more competitive exchange rate). And, with financial institutions relocating their operations and staff to eurozone hubs in the coming years, the City of London (and London’s housing market) will not be spared the pain.
But the implications for Europe could be far worse. Tensions among member states have reached a breaking point, not only over refugees, but also as a result of exceptional strains between creditor and debtor countries within the eurozone. At the same time, weakened leaders in France and Germany are now squarely focused on domestic problems. In Italy, a 10% fall in the stock market following the Brexit vote clearly signals the country’s vulnerability to a full-blown banking crisis – which could well bring the populist Five Star Movement, which has just won the mayoralty in Rome, to power as early as next year.
None of this bodes well for a serious program of eurozone reform, which would have to include a genuine banking union, a limited fiscal union, and much stronger mechanisms of democratic accountability. And time is not on Europe’s side, as external pressures from the likes of Turkey and Russia – both of which are exploiting the discord to their advantage – compound Europe’s internal political strife.
Full article here
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