Left-wing billionaire George Soros wants the European Union to deal with the continent’s refugee crisis by maintaining an open borders policy and running up the EU’s credit.
The EU should take on debt in order to help improve economics conditions in Africa, as part of its response to the ongoing refugee crisis, Soros argued in a speech at the European Council on Foreign Relations’s annual meeting on Tuesday.
Soros pitched the idea of “an EU-led ‘Marshall Plan for Africa'” that “would require at least €30 billion ($35.4 billion) annually for a number of years” to help deal with the refugee crisis. Due to a “woeful shortage of financial resources,” Soros said, “EU member states could contribute only a small fraction of this amount. So, where could the money come from?”
“It is important to recognize that the refugee crisis is a European problem requiring a European solution. The EU has a high credit rating, and its borrowing capacity is largely unused,” he explained. “When should that capacity be put to use if not in an existential crisis?”
Soros also re-emphasized his commitment to an open-borders Europe in his speech, which was titled “How to Save Europe.”
“The EU must protect its external borders but keep them open for lawful migrants. Member states, in turn, must not close their internal borders,” he said. “The idea of a ‘fortress Europe’ closed to political refugees and economic migrants not only violates European and international law; it is also totally unrealistic.” (RELATED: Leaked Docs Show How Soros Spends Big To Keep Populists Out Of Power In Europe)
Soros took shots at both President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Tuesday. The liberal billionaire claimed Europe is now in “existential danger” thanks in part to Trump.
Soros said that “the whole of Europe has been disrupted by the refugee crisis. Unscrupulous leaders have exploited it even in countries that have accepted hardly any refugees. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán based his reelection campaign on falsely accusing me of planning to flood Europe, Hungary included, with Muslim refugees.” (RELATED: Soros Transfers $18 BILLION To His Open Society Foundations)
“Orbán is now posing as the defender of his version of a Christian Europe, one that challenges the values on which the EU was based. He is trying to take over the leadership of the Christian Democratic parties which form the majority in the European Parliament,” he continued.
“The United States, for its part, has exacerbated the EU’s problems. By unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, President Donald Trump has effectively destroyed the transatlantic alliance. This has put additional pressure on an already beleaguered Europe,” the billionaire warned. “It is no longer a figure of speech to say that Europe is in existential danger; it is the harsh reality.”
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