Ten years ago, Liberal Democrat Guy Verhofstadt (Open VLD) and conservative Jean-Luc Dehaene (CD&V) competed for the premiership and Verhofstadt won. Today, both are fairly certain to win their seat in the European Parliament among 22 Belgian MEPs, as they are leading their parties' lists for June EU elections.
Dehaene was prime minister from 1992 to 1999. Verhofstadt, his successor, held the post until 2008. But now, both men are ready to work together "to fight Euro-scepticism and Euro-realists who say we need less Europe," said Dehaene during a press conference.
The European elections will not be a "boxing match between Dehaene and Verhofstadt," he assured attendees.
At the end of 2001, Dehaene was surprisingly nominated by Verhofstadt as vice-chair of the European Convention, chaired by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, which led to the drafting of the European Constitution, later reshaped into the Lisbon Treaty.
In 2004, Jean-Luc Dehaene was elected as an MEP. Last week (7 May), the European Parliament adopted a report of his (363 votes in favour and 93 against) calling for the EU election results to be taken into account when nominating the new Commission president.
The Belgian MEP's report proposes using a Lisbon Treaty provision involving the European Parliament in nominating Barroso's successor ahead of its entry into force. Indeed, if and when Lisbon enters into force, the Commission president would be elected by the Parliament after being proposed by the European Council, which needs to take into account the results of the European elections and to consult with Parliament representatives.
French Liberal François Bayrou (Modem) would like to see Guy Verhofstadt installed as the new Commission president. While presenting his Dutch book, 'Solving the crisis: How Europe can save the world' in Brussels this week, Verhofstadt denied harbouring such ambitions, but criticised outgoing Commission President José Manuel Barroso for failing to define the appropriate response to the financial and economic crises (EurActiv 13/05/09).
"We don't have a clear European strategy to fight against the crisis, the most serious since the Second World War, and we note that the Commission remains silent," he said.
In 2004, Verhofstadt was a candidate for the Commission presidency, but he was deemed too federalist by the UK.
According to French Liberals, he could also succeed Graham Watson as head of the ALDE group in the Parliament (EurActiv 16/04/09). In an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Verhofstadt said of the economic crisis: "There is no time to lose. The rate cut decision by the European Central Bank will not help if it fails to restore credit and confidence."
