Guy Verhofstadt: Europe is not the problem, Orbán is
Guy Verhofstadt MEP, former ALDE group leader and former Prime Minister of Belgium, was the guest of honour at Hungarian opposition party Momentum’s conference in Budapest on Friday. Mr Verhofstadt spoke about EU member states, Brexit and Orbán, among others.
No EU Member State is strong enough to be a global political actor
The opposition party Momentum issued a statement after the conference. According to the statement, Verhofstadt said, among other things, that although no EU member state is strong enough to act as a global political actor, the European Union and the European continent together can already compete with China, Russia, the US and India. “We must regain European sovereignty,” the Belgian MEP said.
He also reacted to Viktor Orbán’s comparison of the European Union to Hitler’s empire-building ambitions last week (Orbán said, when talking about European unity, that “Byzantium, Charlemagne, Otto, Napoleon, Hitler all dreamed of European unity on different bases”). Verhofstadt said the European project was precisely to bring peace to the continent after centuries of bloodshed, Telex writes.
Straying away from the EU has never ended well
He also said that those states that are on the periphery of the EU have never fared well; recession and inflation follow a move away from the EU. According to Verhofstadt, the British have learned this lesson, having “realised since the referendum that they were stupid”. Hungary must stay in the EU because “the problem is not Europe, it is Orbán”, he said.
Momentum MEP Anna Donáth told the conference that Hungary must regain the diplomatic influence it gained during the regime change, and “as a truly sovereign country, we must put our own ideas on the table when reforming the EU”. Greater integration is needed in areas such as foreign policy and the military, energy security, the green transition, ensuring European prosperity, and European funding for education and health.
Europe is Europe because of its diversity
At the same time, she expects national autonomy for the culture and way of life of nation states. “Europe is Europe because it is diverse, multilingual and multi-ethnic. It is a heterogeneous federation in terms of its traditions, history and culture. Therefore, Europe must respect and even strengthen the autonomy of nation states in shaping their culture and way of life,” said the Momentum MEP.