George Soros has told a gathering at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the treatment of Ireland by the European Union has been “patently unjust.”
“It is patently unjust that the Irish people should absorb all the losses made by the banks and that the bondholders should be totally free, and that I think will have to be modified," Soros said. "Greece in due course, maybe sooner rather than later, will also have to be restructured. Portugal also probably needs it."
Soros said Ireland's massive debt debts was an "unresolved problem" that cannot wait. "You can't wait until 2013 to start restructuring the debt. Ireland is putting Europe on notice that they will want to renegotiate the settlement that the current government did."
Ireland’s probable next leader, Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny and his finance spokesman Michael Noonan met European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Friday to discuss the €85bn ($116bn) bailout and put him on notice they wanted a lower interest rate.
Soros also criticised the Irish Government's decision to repay bond holders who lent to the banks.
A restructuring of debts "can be absorbed" the American financier stated.
"It will cause losses, and if there are any losses then this emergency fund should be able to provide equity to replace missing equity in the banks,"
Soros is a long-term skeptic of the Euro but acknowledged that "the euro is here to stay" because "there's a commitment for it to be here."
9 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.jacersagain | Feb 05, 2011, 10:23 AM EST
No, eiriamach – I don’t do any of the things you mention; except for Lefebvre, I don’t know of the others and I don’t care to. I do apologise for my mistypo “..Jew fellow...” should have read “Jewish fellow”. In his childhood days he was forced to deny his Jewish faith so that he could survive the Nazi campaighns. I make no apology for noting that Jewish people are so money-seeking that what most of them in the West do is buy and sell to make huge profits. They are most prominent in the Jewellery business, where their wedding and engagement rings, for example, are sold to make 500% profit and more, with not a whit of concern for the financial damage they cause to unsuspecting customers. Soros did the same on the currency markets – bought and sold currencies and didn’t care what country’s economy he debased while making billions in profits. Like I said, he is one of the most despicable people I know of. Nobody blames anyone for making a profit but to do so in extremes of greed is deplorable.
eiriamach | Feb 03, 2011, 08:39 AM EST
Jacersagain: "Jew fellow"? It looks like you've been listening to Bishops Babini, Williamson, Lefebvre, et al. and reading up on conspiracy theories as well.
jacersagain | Jan 30, 2011, 04:23 PM EST
Soros – wasn’t he the Jew fellow who made a fortune by speculating (betting or gambling) in different countries’ currencies? Like the UK’s British Pound and the Irish pound. Devaluation was the name of the game, reducing the worth of both pounds and therefore our economies, effectively destroying our money’s worth – he was a tough money-maker out of Ireland’s little currency (as well as others – the UK’s Black Wednesday is famous and there was something big about him destroying Malaysia’s currency too). He made billions in this tough money gambler’s way. And now he has the cheek to say that Europe is being too tough on us? He's one of the most dispacable people I've known of. He's tried to redeem himself setting up charitable foundations etc with his ill-gotten gains. I’d listen to him more if he talked with his money and donated all the gains he made out of us in Ireland during the 80s & 90s back to the Irish Exchequer.
cillowen | Jan 30, 2011, 03:54 PM EST
Such a tycoon speaketh but Irish politicians are incapable of negotiating anything. The pain will go on and on as their natives pull on those levers for their familiar manure crowd.
sirpeter | Jan 30, 2011, 11:38 AM EST
AoifeNicSeáin...I really like your way of thinking..We need a few smart women like you in government..You have just given Ireland a very valid get-out clause. Wonderful post Aoife!!
AoifeNicSeáin | Jan 30, 2011, 09:14 AM EST
@markhanly: "We Irish do not reneage on committments given" isn't even applicable, as giving up sovereignty transgresses the mandate of the government, and so there isn't a valid committment at all.
kurtjohnson | Jan 29, 2011, 11:28 PM EST
They should have never guaranteed any of the creditors of these trans-national banks.
markhanly | Jan 29, 2011, 04:50 PM EST
Woundedknee is expressing the opinions felt by the masses. I have a question. Is it possible for the integrity of the Country that we can put a moritorium ( Pause on debt payment )until we sort out our Domestic budget deficit and then once sorted focus on the repayments of the soverin debt imposed on our people. We Irish do not reneage on committments given but maybe a little common sense would be the order of the day by the EU and IMF and of course the Bond holders. You cannot get something from nothing..
WoundedKnee | Jan 29, 2011, 09:45 AM EST
The most disgusting thing about Ireland's disaster is that it is the Irish leaders--the Fianna Fail--who have betrayed their own people. Fair-minded people from other countries can see that what Fianna Fail The Mass Immigration Party agreed to is an utter sell-out. The FF are craven curs, who insisted on screwing Irish people rather thanput heat on their fat cat buddies in financial circles. Fianna Fail are guilty of double treason: on one level, they sold out the country to the International Banks, on the other level they are selling it out to foreign migrants who are now swarming into Ireland in order to take over the country as the Irish leave. Fianna Fail is a rat pack, not a political party.