LUNCHEON CONFERENCE

“How to break the European Deadlock”

With Guy Verhofstadt

Former Prime Minister of Belgium

The European Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong was delighted to welcome Mr. Verhofstadt as guest speaker in a luncheon conference on 3 November at The Hong Kong Bankers Club.

Peter Cremers, Chairman of the ECC delivered the welcome remarks and introduced the guest of honor, Mr. Verhofstadt, President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the European Parliament (EP) for the mandate 2009-2014.

As the leader of the liberal fraction of the EP, Mr. Verhofstadt’s views on the EU are extremely progressive and daring and he openly advocated for a federal union closer to the US model of fiscal and economic union that goes beyond the union prescribed by the Treaty of Maastricht a decade ago: “The establishment of a federal fiscal and economic union that can manage the euro and its member states in an effective and democratic way. Anything short of a real integration of economic and fiscal process will be in danger of failing.”

Mr. Verhofstadt eloquently stated that there is an urgent need for a real and sound unity in the EU in order to make the pan-European project succeed. Although recent measures adopted by the EU do move towards this direction (recapitalization of banks, creation of new EU financial bodies, etc), the targets set in the recent EU Summit (October 2011) are insufficient, and a fiscal union is, in his view, a pre-requisite for long term financial stability in the euro zone.

Mr. Verhofstadt ended his speech with a call for democracy and for real political leadership: Europe is missing leaders with visions, with genuine ideas, and it is necessary for policy-makers to present a political project based on their own beliefs as it is their duty to persuade the citizens to follow their guidance.

Please click here for the original script of the speech.

Diplomatic Aspects: click here