The EU has got its priorities wrong, billionaire investor George Soros said, as he called on Europe to provide financial assistance to Ukraine. It was a “terrible, terrible mistake” not to, he claimed, and urged Europe to “wake up”. 
 
 The veteran financier, who has warned against allowing Russia to divide and dominate, said: “What Europe needs to do is to support Ukraine. For that it needs to do two things. “The first is to make a political decision that it’s important to help Ukraine and Europe will do whatever it takes to help Ukraine, subject to not violating the ceasefire and not getting involved in a direct military confirmation. 
 
 “Secondly, Europe has to establish a source of funds. It doesn’t mean a blank cheque.” Asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if the EU had got its priorities wrong, he replied: “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. “This is a terrible, terrible mistake on the part of Europe. That is why Europe needs to wake up. “It is, in fact, much more serious than people are aware of, there is much at stake in the survival of the EU itself.” 
 
 Asked what the original authors of the EU would have made of the current situation in Europe, he said: “They would be as sad as I am. “I’m a firm believer in the EU as it was originally meant to be. I considered it an embodiment of the open society idea to which my foundations are devoted.” 
 
 PA 

 George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management, speaks during the session 'Recharging Europe' in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos January 23, 2015. 
 
 VIENNA George Soros is ready to invest $1 billion in Ukraine if Western countries help private investment there, and sees a 1 in 3 chance Greece will leave the euro, the billionaire financier told Austrian newspaper Der Standard. 
 
 Soros has previously urged the West to step up aid to Ukraine, outlining steps toward a $50 billion financing package that he said should be viewed as a bulwark against an increasingly aggressive Russia. 
 
 "The West can help Ukraine by increasing attractiveness for investors. A political risk insurance is necessary. This could take the form of mezzanine financing at EU interest rates - very close to zero," he said in an interview published on Monday. 
 
 "I stand ready. There are concrete investment ideas, for example in agriculture and infrastructure projects. I would put in $1 billion. This must generate a profit. My foundation would benefit from this ... Private engagement needs strong political leadership." 
 
 The Hungarian-born hedge fund magnate, who made his name betting against the pound in 1992, also put the chance of Greece leaving the euro zone at a third. Last week he put it at 50:50. 
 
 Michael Vachon, spokesman for Soros, said on Monday in a statement: "Soros said he would consider investments in Ukraine if Western leaders demonstrated that they were prepared to 'do whatever it takes' to save Ukraine, including providing adequate budgetary support and political risk insurance. 
 
 "Under those conditions, Soros said he would review investments in the energy, agriculture and information technology sectors." 
 
 (Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan in New York; Editing by Catherine Evans) 

 said Monday he was ready to invest $1 billion in Ukraine if the West promised to help the embattled country. 
 
 "Ukraine is defending the EU from Russian aggression" and helping its development will weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Hungarian-born philanthropist said in remarks published in German by the Austrian business daily Der Standard. 
 
 He said Ukraine needed 50 billion euros to get itself back on its feet, and said he was prepared to pump $1 billion (922 million euros) into agriculture and infrastructural projects. 
 
 Ukraine is at the edge of bankruptcy hit by the triple whammy of the war in its industrial east, a deep economic recession and the record devaluation of its currency. Its public debt likely to reach 94 percent of its GDP in 2015. 
 
 Soros said his investments "should make a profit ", which would go to his foundation rather than him personally. 
 
 "The West can help Ukraine by making it more attractive to investors by giving them insurance against political risk," he said. 
 
 "That could take the form of financing very close to the European interest rates, which are very close to zero." 
 
 Ukrainian investment analysts ICU only predict a return to growth in 2017, and a sharp drop in GDP of 7.6 percent this year. 
 
 VIENNA:
– It's time for the West to push for more private investment in the Ukraine, says billionaire George Soros, and he's ready to put his money where his mouth is. "The West can help Ukraine by increasing attractiveness for investors. A political risk insurance is necessary," Soros told Austria's Der Standard, as per Reuters. "Concrete investment ideas," he says, include those in "agriculture and infrastructure projects. I would put in $1 billion. This must generate a profit. My foundation would benefit from this. ... Private engagement needs strong political leadership." Ukraine, he says, needs about $54 billion, the Economic Times reports; Soros says the financing could be conducted at interest rates near zero, and it would help weaken Vladimir Putin. The Economic Times notes that between war, a currency devaluation, and a powerful recession, Ukraine could be approaching bankruptcy. The EU's lack of support for Ukraine, Soros recently told BBC radio, has been a "terrible, terrible mistake," the Irish Times reports. "I'm a firm believer in the EU as it was originally meant to be. I considered it an embodiment of the open society idea to which my foundations are devoted."