Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. Verhofstadt was a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 1985 to 2009. He served as deputy prime minister of Belgium and minister of Budget from 1985 to 1992. He was the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. During this period, he gradually moved away from neoliberalism and became more of a centrist figure.
In the European Parliament, Verhofstadt was the leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) from 2009 to 2019. In 2010, he co-founded the inter-parliamentarian Spinelli Group to support the creation of a European Federation. He was the ALDE Party nominee for President of the European Commission in the 2014 European Parliament election. He served as the European Parliament's Brexit Coordinator and Chair of the Brexit Steering Group from 2016 to 2020.
Early life and career Born in 1953 in Dendermonde, Verhofstadt became president of the Liberaal Vlaams Studententverbond (Liberal Flemish Students' Association) (1972–1974), while studying law at the University of Ghent. He quickly became the secretary of Willy De Clercq, who was at that time the president of the Flemish liberal party (PVV). In 1982, at age 29, he became president of the party. In 1985, he was elected into the Chamber of Deputies, and became deputy prime minister and minister of budget under Prime Minister Wilfried Martens. Because of his economic views and his young age, he became known as "Baby Thatcher".
After being ousted from government, Verhofstadt became leader of the opposition. After a failed attempt to form a government in November 1991, he changed the PVV into the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). This new party attracted many politicians from other parties, notably from the Volksunie (VU) and the Christian People's Party (CVP). Despite the fact that many had high expectations, the party did not manage to outstrip the CVP. Verhofstadt resigned and disappeared from the political scene, only to return to the party's presidency in 1997, with a less radical image. He gradually moved away from neoliberalism (partly under the influence of his brother Dirk, a social liberal political philosopher), and became more of a centrist figure, a change which especially became clear during his first term as prime minister.
Prime Minister of Belgium Verhofstadt I
Partly because of a food scandal that broke out just before the 1999 elections, the VLD became the largest party in the country, obtaining over 22% of the vote in Flanders. He quickly formed a coalition with the Flemish socialists and greens and the French-speaking counterparts of these parties (a symmetric coalition) in Brussels and Wallonia. He was appointed prime minister on 12 July 1999, the first liberal to hold that office since 1938. It was the first Belgian government without a Christian Democratic party since 1958, and the first one to include green parties.
Verhofstadt was awarded the Vision for Europe Award in 2002 for his work toward a more unified Europe. The economic situation gave him leeway to raise the lowest social benefits and lower taxation. After 2001, the economic situation worsened. The 'Aging Fund' or 'Silver Fund' was set up, in order to ensure the maintenance of pensions until 2030.
Much to the disapproval of his coalition partners, Verhofstadt and his VLD opposed granting the right to vote to non-EU residents. Instead, they proposed and were able to liberalise the procedure for obtaining Belgian citizenship. During the prelude to the Iraq crisis of 2003, Belgium joined France, Germany and Russia in opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Verhofstadt II
Following the 2003 Belgian federal election, Verhofstadt formed his second cabinet without the green parties, who were virtually annihilated in the election. For various reasons, the formation of the second government was delayed well beyond normal: the economic situation worsened to 1999 levels, both politically similar parties (liberals and socialists) gained approximately the same seats. Verhofstadt's second Government consisted of his liberal Open VLD their sister liberal MR, the Flemish social democratic SP.a and their sister social democratic party PS to form another Purple coalition.
Following international pressure over Belgium's War Crimes Law, which asserted universal jurisdiction, allowing anyone to bring war crime charges in Belgian courts, Verhofstadt's second government agreed to amend the law in favour of more limited jurisdiction. The law had faced criticism that it was encouraging politically motivated complaints.
In the Flemish regional elections of 13 June 2004, his party lost votes, slipping into third place in Flanders. Though this has had no direct impact upon his position as prime minister, there were rumours that the Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) party that won the elections, would participate in federal government. Verhofstadt was suggested as a candidate to replace Romano Prodi as the next President of the European Commission, but his candidacy was opposed and rejected by a coalition led by Tony Blair and other leaders who had disagreed with Verhofstadt's uncompromising criticisms of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq the previous year.
After this Verhofstadt was faced with a succession of internal crises. The first, coming to a head in the autumn of 2004, was the question whether DHL would invest in Brussels Airport, located in the Flemish municipality of Zaventem. The question which nearly caused the collapse of the cabinet was whether to grant DHL extra landing rights during the night, this being a hot topic of public debate and various court cases. In the end the split between employment and night rest was for nought as DHL had only used the Zaventem option in order to get better conditions from Leipzig.
Following the DHL crisis, Verhofstadt faced a crisis over the allocation of constitutional and administrative powers and responsibilities for the Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde district (commonly abbreviated as BHV). Division of the powers had been written into the government coalition agreement by the parties controlling the Flemish regional government. This triggered a veto from the Walloon parties. The crisis dragged on until spring 2005, when the matter was shelved till after the federal elections of 2007. By 2005, the Flemish parties participating in the government did not want the government to collapse, given their poor ratings in the opinion polls.
Verhofstadt voiced concern over the 2006 Lebanon War. Verhofstadt said that Israel has the right to defend itself, but has now responded with excessive violence.Journal télévisé (19h30), La Une, 14 July 2006 , Het Laatste Nieuws On 13 December 2006, a regular programming on the Belgian national television channel La Une was interrupted for a news bulletin claiming that the Flemish parliament had issued a unilateral declaration of independence from the Kingdom of Belgium, mimicking the Belgian secession from the Netherlands some 175 years earlier. The broadcast of the report led to widespread alarm and consternation in French-speaking Belgium and Verhofstadt condemned the report as "irresponsible". In the years coming to the hoax there was rising Flemish separatism and the Vlaams Belang party received strong support in the regional elections. The hoax almost became reality in 2007 after a major political crisis drove many to believe that the partition of Belgium was almost certain.
The Constitutional Court of Belgium ruled that all elections held after 10 June 2007, would be constitutionally invalid because of the non-separation of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. In the autumn of 2005, Verhofstadt managed to score a success when he was able to negotiate a "Generation Pact" with regard to employment and social reforms, regardless of the opposition and actions of the unions. Verhofstadt was sworn in as municipal councilor in Ghent in January 2007, as a result of the 2006 municipal elections. In the council, he is seated next to another cabinet minister, Freya Van den Bossche, who was elected a municipal councillor as well. He even postponed a visit to the Russian president Vladimir Putin to be able to go to the first session of the newly elected council.
Verhofstadt III
Verhofstadt led the VLD into the 2007 Belgian federal election. Already with the 2006 Belgian local elections, the VLD showed signs of fatigue with the Flemish voter, who seem to have had enough of eight years of Verhofstadt, and the purple coalition governments. In an evening speech on election day, Verhofstadt conceded defeat and asked for a new generation to lead the VLD; he was to step down as prime minister after formation of a new government; however, the 2007 Belgian government formation was complicated, and in the end CD&V politician Yves Leterme failed to bring about a new government.
Yet certain policy matters became politically urgent. The King therefore asked Verhofstadt to mediate an "interim government" that would be in office for three months and could propose a 2008 budget. A deal was struck in December, and the "interim government" was set for inauguration on 21 December 2007. Two days later, this interim government won a vote of confidence in parliament, with 97 votes in favor, 46 opposed, and one abstention, assuring its legitimacy for three months. One of the first decisions of the new government, on 21 December 2007, was to raise the security level after foiling an attempted jail break of an Al Qaeda operative. Belgium was one of the first countries to recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on 24 February 2008. A "permanent government" under leadership of Yves Leterme assumed office on 20 March 2008.
Senator After his premiership, Verhofstadt took up the seat of Senator to which he had been elected in 2007.
Member of the European Parliament
In the 2009 European Parliament election in Belgium, Verhofstadt was elected a member of the European Parliament for the term 2009–2014. He has since been appointed to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs. On 1 July 2009, Verhofstadt was elected President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament. In this capacity, he was also a member of the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament until July 2019. In June 2009 Verhofstadt was put forward as the possible candidate for replacing José Manuel Barroso as the president of the European Commission by a coalition of greens, socialists and liberals. On 15 September 2010, he supported the new Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the drive for federalisation of the European Union (EU).
In 2010, Belgian Liberal member of the European Parliament and Verhofstadt's close ally Louis Michel called King Leopold II of Belgium, the Congo Free State's colonial master responsible for the deaths of between 3 million and 10 million Congolese Africans, a "visionary hero". Verhofstadt, then leader of the Liberals in the European Parliament, refused to comment on Michel's controversial remarks. In 2014, Verhofstadt contested for the role of Spitzenkandidat against a field that included José Bové, Martin Schulz and eventual winner Jean-Claude Juncker.
In September 2016, Verhofstadt was named the European Parliament's representative on matters relating to Brexit. In his public statements, Verhofstadt has focused on the rights of EU citizens within the UK and British citizens in the EU. In November 2016, Verhofstadt warned the European Parliament of a coming "ring of autocrats", citing the increasing assertiveness of Russia and Turkey, and contemplating the (at that time widely discounted) possibility of a Trump presidency.