The European Union must prepare itself for a possible return of President Donald Trump, former Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt has warned.
Writing in a Europe Day opinion piece for Euractiv, the veteran MEP — who announced his retirement last week — warned that the EU has a number of major threats ahead of it, listing a possible return of Trump after the 2024 US elections as one of them.
Verhofstadt also called for the Union to embrace a “radical” Euro-federalist-leaning agenda, transnational MEP voting lists and the end of vetos for individual EU nation-states.
On Europe Day 🇪🇺 we must ask ourselves, is this EU equipped to deal with the challenges we face?
The answer is clear: Pro- Europeans must promote a radical vision for a renewed, united Europe… and fight for it ! ✊🏻https://t.co/Lu3CMqTlhr
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) May 8, 2023
“Donald Trump will surely be the Republican nominee for the American Presidency next year,” Verhofstadt wrote, adding that the danger of ‘Trump 2.0’ should be taken “seriously”.
In response, the veteran MEP argued, the bloc should implement “radical” changes to its operations that hand greater powers to officials in Brussels. Such reforms include ending purely national ballots for Euro MPs in favour of EU-wide transnational public votes, the removal of veto powers held by individual nations within the EU, and measures clamping down on “authoritarian behaviour” of any national government within the bloc.
“We must prepare a Europe that is sovereign and capable to defend its interests,” he declared. “European elections must become a truly single European election and not only 27 national campaigns where, too often, but national battles also prevail over the European debate.”
Verhofstadt’s argument that a larger, more powerful European Union is the solution to many of the continent’s problems is not an unusual claim for the former Belgian Prime Minister to make, with the outgoing senior Eurocrat being a major proponent for further EU integration.
Often championing the idea of EU “sovereignty”, the official has pushed for individual states to give up control of major elements of their nations to authorities in Brussels, even championing the idea of an EU army in the wake of the fall of Afghanistan in 2021.
He has also repeatedly bemoaned the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. He used a quote by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky to claim that Brexit ultimately represented the UK electorate exercising “the right to desire what is even extremely stupid”.
