A collapse of the European Union is a probable scenario, as this body is still quite fragile, American economist, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs said in an interview with TASS.

When asked whether the collapse of the European Union is likely today, the American economist said he believes it is.

"Yes, the European Union could break apart because it still is a fragile entity," Sachs noted. "I do believe, though, there should be a renovation of Europe and a strong Europe, which I think would be good for Europe and good for the world. But it's possible that the European Union would break up instead," the expert added.

Sachs suggested that the EU might even expel or strip Hungary of its voting right because of Budapest's honesty in saying that "the war in Ukraine should stop and the EU should stop being warmongers." "Now, because the principle of decision-making is unanimity, Europe is now exploring effectively ending Hungary's veto or ending Hungary's vote on these issues or even throwing Hungary out in one way or another from European decision-making," the economist clarified.

"There's a lot of unpopularity about the war. There's a lot of unpopularity of these leaders. People like [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer and [French President Emmanuel] Macron are despised at home. They have very low approval ratings compared to their disapproval ratings. And there's a lot of dissatisfaction with Brussels' bureaucracy. I'm very dissatisfied," Sachs concluded.