Billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros, known as the man who "broke the Bank of England" for his 1992 short bet against the British Pound, gave a speech to the European Union Parliament in Brussels on Thursday following the United Kingdom's decision to exit the EU.

Ahead of the vote last week, Soros had warned that if the British left the UK it would have effects on the British pound more disruptive than "Black Wednesday."

The Brexit may now be a "greater calamity" than the refugee crisis, he told the EU Parliament. He added that the UK's shocking decision has "unleashed a crisis in the financial markets comparable in severity only to that of 2007/8."

He continued: "This has been unfolding in slow motion, but Brexit has accelerated it. It is likely to reinforce the deflationary trends that were already prevalent."

Here's the full text of his speech:

Statement submitted to the European Parliament.

George Soros. 30 June, 2016.



When I was invited to address this joint hearing, the refugee crisis was the greatest problem Europe faced. Since then it has played a crucial role in what could prove to be an even greater calamity — Brexit.

The vote for Brexit was a great shock to me and, I imagine, to most people in this room. Last Friday morning, the disintegration of the European Union seemed practically inevitable.

But as the initial disbelief wore off, something unexpected happened, and the tragedy no longer looks like a fait accompli.

Over the past week, buyer’s remorse has begun to set in, as the hypothetical became very real: sterling plunged, Scotland threatened to break away, and some of the working people who supported the “leave” campaign started to realize the bleak future that both the country and they personally face. Even the champions of leave are retracting their dishonest pre-referendum claims about Brexit.

In a spontaneous response, over four million people petitioned Parliament to hold a second referendum. By the time the Parliamentary debate on this petition takes place, it is not inconceivable that more people will have signed the petition than voted for Brexit.

Just as Brexit was a negative surprise, the spontaneous response to it is a positive one. People on both sides of the referendum, and most importantly those who did not vote—particularly young people under 35—have become mobilized. This is the kind of grass roots involvement that the European Union has never been able to generate.

The referendum has highlighted for people in Britain just what they stand to lose by leaving the EU. If this sentiment spreads not only in Britain, but also in the rest of Europe, what seemed like the inevitable disintegration of the EU could instead create positive momentum for a stronger and better Europe.

The process could start in Britain. The popular vote cannot be reversed but a signature collecting campaign could transform the political landscape by revealing a newfound enthusiasm for EU membership. This approach could then be replicated in the rest of the European Union by forming a movement that would seek to save the EU by profoundly restructuring it. I am convinced that as the consequences of Brexit unfold in the months ahead, more and more people will be eager to join this movement.

What the EU should not do is penalize British voters while ignoring their legitimate concerns about the deficiencies of the European Union.

European leaders should recognize their own mistakes and acknowledge the democratic deficit in the current institutional arrangements. Rather than seeing Brexit as the negotiation of a divorce, they should seize it as an opportunity to fundamentally reform the EU. Their goal should be the creation of a reinvented EU that the UK and other countries at risk of exit would want to join.

Will disaffected voters in France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Poland and elsewhere see the EU benefitting their lives? If the answer is yes, the EU will emerge stronger. If the answer is no, it will eventually blow apart.

Unfortunately, Brexit has not only created an opening to reinvent the European Union, it has also aggravated two looming dangers.

First, it unleashed a crisis in the financial markets comparable in severity only to that of 2007/8. This has been unfolding in slow motion, but Brexit has accelerated it. It is likely to reinforce the deflationary trends that were already prevalent.

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