Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt[2] (Dutch: [ˈɣi vərˈɦɔfstɑt] ⓘ; French: [ɡi vəʁɔfstad]; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian liberal and European federalist politician.

[3][4] 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 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.

[citation needed] Much to the disapproval of his coalition partners, Verhofstadt and his VLD opposed granting the right to vote to non-EU residents.

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.

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.

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.

[21] In the years coming to the hoax there was rising Flemish separatism and the Vlaams Belang party received strong support in the regional elections.

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.

Already with the 2006 municipal 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.

[25] 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.

[citation needed] On 1 July 2009, Verhofstadt was elected President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament.

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.

[33][34] In 2014, Verhofstadt contested for the role of Spitzenkandidat against a field that included José Bové, Martin Schulz and eventual winner Jean-Claude Juncker.

[36] 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.

[41] On 11 April 2024 Verhofstadt led the Parliament to deny budgetary resources to the European Council because they had not yet found the air defences that were needed by the Ukrainians, as they fought off the Russian forces of Vladimir Putin.

[43] His income from these activities is estimated to be at least 180,000 euros [48] Since 2011, Verhofstadt has written monthly commentaries on strategic spotlights for Project Syndicate, an international media organization.

"[9] As prime minister, Verhofstadt supported "ethical diplomacy", international law and multilateralism, as well as Louis Michel's équidistance policy in the Arab–Israeli conflict.

Relations with Israel improved after Verhofstadt's government in 2003 weakened the so-called genocide law, under which Ariel Sharon could have been tried in Belgium for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

[60] In May 2015, news media reported that Verhofstadt was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the European Union who are not allowed to enter the country.

[66] In August 2015, Verhofstadt called for a reform of the EU's asylum and migration system, in reaction to the European migrant crisis.

He also called on governments of France, the UK, and Hungary to stop building up walls and border security measures, and to shift their effort on humanitarian assistance.

[68] Following the results of 2005 European Constitution referendum in France and The Netherlands, Verhofstadt released his book, Verenigde Staten van Europa ("United States of Europe").

"[70] In January 2013, three years before the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Verhofstadt said "[ Brexit ] is stupidity for a country with 53 percent of its exports going to the Continent and to the rest of Europe.

"[71] In February 2016, in the run-up to the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Verhofstadt said "The only winners from a Brexit would be Nigel Farage and Vladimir Putin; who would relish a divided Europe.

"[72] In July 2016, Verhofstadt said "Politically, the UK is already on its way to becoming an adversary, rather than a trusted partner, of the EU… Theresa May actually opposed Brexit, yet her anti-European hostility differs only in degree, not in kind, from that of pro-Brexit politicians… who rejoice at the possibility of additional exit referenda across the EU.

"[73] In a Twitter post on 13 June 2018, Verhofstadt accused Nigel Farage of using "Kremlin money and claimed Aaron Banks "colluded with the Russians to deliver Brexit".

[78] In September 2019, Guy Verhofstadt attacked the words used by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during the Brexit process, calling it "the language of Europe's dark past".