George Soros has issued a passionate plea to the German government to lead the eurozone out of recession by boosting growth, creating a joint fiscal authority and guaranteeing common bonds, or itself leave the currency union to save the future of Europe.

“Lead or leave: this is a legitimate decision for Germany to make,” the billionaire financier and philanthropist said in an interview with the Financial Times. “Either throw in your fate with the rest of Europe, take the risk of sinking or swimming together, or leave the euro, because if you have left, the problems of the eurozone would get better.”

Mr Soros, a strong supporter of European integration but an outspoken critic of Germany’s eurozone crisis management since 2010, praised the latest move by the European Central Bank to return to buying eurozone government bonds as “a more powerful step than the previous ones.