Deripaska Warns Over Europe's Future
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 26.01.2012 |
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Oleg Deripaska discusses the economic situation in the eurozone with The Wall Street Journal's Andrea Hotter. He argues that European leaders need to make tough decisions in order to spare future generations from even higher costs than they currently face.
On finding the political will to effect change:
"We need to find a politician on top who wants to deal with this issue [...] At the moment, there's no European politician willing to spend 1% of his or her popularity, because the party political competition is so narrow. The most important issue is how do you really put this on top of the agenda, how can you win public support, and how quickly will the public accept that not just one, not two, but three generations will not have the happy lives of the 1990s and the last decade."
On possible opportunities to turn around Europe's fortunes:
"If the euro falls slightly down against the dollar it creates another opportunity in terms of export industries and competition, even with Asia. There is a lot of good opportunity which could be realised in Europe, but conceptually what concerns me is how quickly society could adjust to this challenge [...] At the end of the day, the European Central Bank could easily bring money on the same scale as the U.S. Federal Reserve and it'll help a lot."
Comparing the eurozone to a merger, Mr Deripaska maintains that stronger guidelines are needed to ensure success:
"There's such a huge difference between Germany, Austria and Greece. In some countries there is a siesta and half the people don't work after 2 p.m., and other countries have people who stay at the office until midnight. It's not just a different attitude, it's also a level of entrepreneurial activity, competence, skills in the work force [...] It's like a merger--it always takes some time, but you have special measures. But there was a lack of special measures when the [European Union] was created."
The full interview is online here.
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