Financial safety

Nobel Laureate Stiglitz predicts eurozone disintegration should Italy walk away

Italy and other countries may leave the eurozone in the next few years, predicts Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. He blames the euro and German austerity for the stalled European economy.

"There will still be a eurozone in 10 years, but the question is, what will it look like? It's very unlikely it will still have 19 members. It's difficult to say who will still belong,” Stiglitz said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt.

"The people in Italy are increasingly disappointed in the euro. Italians are starting to realize that Italy doesn't work in the euro," he added.

According to Stiglitz, Germany had already accepted that Greece would ditch the euro. He added he advised Greece and Portugal to leave the eurozone.

Stiglitz criticized Germany’s austerity policy, lack of European solidarity for solving common economic woes and the single currency. The best solution to boost the European economy is to break up the euro, creating two different currencies for northern and southern member countries, the economist said.