One of my German associates translated an interview for me that was published in WirtschaftsWoche, Germany’s leading economic magazine... and as is typical for Felix, he did not mince his words.
In his opinion, the highly indebted EU has only two options: Either socialize the crushing eurozone debt—which has been incurred mostly by the poor Southern European countries but will have to be shared by their Northern European peers—or break up for good. He predicts that especially Germany, the most prolific and competitive EU member state, will not be pleased.
“Over time, the German public will realize that they have been duped,” he said in the interview, “and that they are the only nation who wasn’t allowed to vote on this.”
“The citizens of the northern group were never told that the euro can only persist if the debts of the eurozone are being socialized. That was always just a matter of time, and the greater the economic downturn, the greater the pressure to make a final decision. At the birth of the euro, I said that this would be the shortest currency union in history if it didn’t abide by its self-imposed rules. After three years, the breaking of rules started, and meanwhile all the rules have been massively broken. Most member states wouldn’t even qualify anymore today.”
Let’s see if Felix’s fellow panelists will agree with him.
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