Billionaire George Soros has told the BBC that the European Union may not survive its "long-lasting stagnation".
He says that Germany is responsible for many of Europe's problems because it has not taken on a leadership role.
Talking to the Today programme, he said; "My hope is that Germany is going to change and realise that the policy of austerity is counter-productive.
"Their memory is inflation, so they continue fighting inflation when the threat is deflation."
He added: "The only people who can change it are the Germans, because they are in charge. They don't want to be in charge, in fact they are determined not to be in charge. And that's the tragedy."
Mr Soros, an investor and philanthropist, is famous for speculating against the pound in 1992, contributing to its collapse and exit from the EU exchange rate mechanism (ERM), the forerunner of the euro.
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