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Concept
Guy Verhofstadt
Summary
Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (ˈɣiː vərˈɦɔfstɑt; ɡi vəʁɔfstad; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian liberal politician and an advocate of a Federal Europe. He is a former prime minister of Belgium. He has been a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium since 2009.
He 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, he 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.
Born in 1953 in Dendermonde, he 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 he 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).
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