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Essays

Empowering Europe’s Roma

  • Project Syndicate
  • November 26, 2013
BUDAPEST – Across Europe, millions are suffering from unemployment and the prospect of a long period of economic stagnation. But no group has been harder hit than the Roma. There are more than ten million Roma living in Europe, mostly concentrated in the Balkans and in the European Union’s newest member states, especially Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Angela Merkel’s Pyrrhic Victory

  • Project Syndicate
  • October 7, 2013
As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany –

Remarks delivered at the Global Economic Symposium

  • Kiel, Germany
  • October 1, 2013
I shall take a holistic approach to the future of Europe. I have developed a conceptual framework, which has guided me in my decisions throughout my adult life. The framework is much broader than the financial markets; it deals with the relationship between thinking and reality.

The Resistible Fall of Europe

  • Project Syndicate
  • May 14, 2013
SOROS: I have been very concerned about Europe. The euro is in the process of destroying the European Union.  To some extent, this has already happened, in the sense that the EU was meant to be a voluntary association of equal states.

Germany’s Choice

  • Project Syndicate
  • April 9, 2013
FRANKFURT – The euro crisis has already transformed the European Union from a voluntary association of equal states into a creditor-debtor relationship from which there is no easy escape. The creditors stand to lose large sums should a member state exit the monetary union, yet debtors are subjected to policies that deepen their depression, aggravate their debt burden, and perpetuate their subordinate position.

Remarks delivered at the Center for Financial Studies

  • Frankfurt, Germany
  • April 9, 2013
My objective in coming here today is to discuss the euro crisis. I think you will all agree that the crisis is far from resolved. It has already caused tremendous damage both financially and politically and taken an extensive human toll as well. It has transformed the European Union into something radically different from what was originally intended.

Remarks delivered at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference

  • Hainan, China
  • April 8, 2013
My assignment today is to give an overview of global financial markets. Well, the situation is very complicated with many cross currents and cross purposes. In order to explain what is happening let me put the current situation into historical context.

Europe’s Crisis of Values

  • Project Syndicate
  • December 31, 2012
NEW YORK – Xenophobia and extremism are symptoms of societies in profound crisis. In 2012, the far-right Golden Dawn won 21 seats in Greece’s parliamentary election, the right-wing Jobbik gained ground in my native Hungary, and the National Front’s Marine Le Pen received strong backing in France’s presidential election.

A Europe of Solidarity, Not Only Discipline

  • Project Syndicate
  • October 30, 2012
Originally, the European Union was what psychologists call a “fantastic object,” a desirable goal that inspires people’s imaginations. I saw it as the embodiment of an open society – an association of nation-states that gave up part of their sovereignty for the common good and formed a union dominated by no one nation or nationality.

Rule of Law Can Rid the World of Poverty

  • Financial Times
  • September 28, 2012
Poverty is on the retreat. Despite the global economic downturn, the World Bank and UN reported this year that the number of people living in extreme poverty has dropped in every region of the world for the first time since record keeping began.