Who is Guy Verhofstadt? Former Belgian Prime Minister and European Parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator
Guy Verhofstadt is the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator and long-serving politician from Belgium
BREXIT negotiations are reaching a critical moment in both Westminster and Brussels.
Among the key figures in Britain's EU exit is former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt.
Who is Guy Verhofstadt?
Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician who has served as the Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium since 2009.
He has been married to Dominique Verkinderen since 1992, and the couple have two children together.
He has also served as the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008, as well as Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium from 1985 to 1992 and Minister of Budget from 1985 to 1992.
He was a Member of the Chamber of Representatives from 1985 to 2009.
Since 2009 he has served as a Member of the European Parliament where he is the leader of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
He was the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party nominee for President of the European Commission in the 2014 European Parliament election, and is the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator.
The 65-year-old was born in 1953 in Dendermonde, Belgium, and became president of the Liberal Flemish Student's union (1972–1974) while studying law at the University of Ghent.
When was he Prime Minister?
Verhofstadt was the Belgian PM from 1999-2008.
After a failed attempt to form a government in November 1991, he changed the Party for Freedom and Progress (PVV) into the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD).
The VLD became the largest party in the country in the 1999 elections.
Verhofstadt joined the Flemish socialists and greens and the French-speaking counterparts of these parties in Brussels and Wallonia.
He became Prime Minister of Belgium in 1999, and was the first liberal to hold that office since 1938.
Following the 2003 general elections, Verhofstadt formed his second cabinet without the green parties.
Verhofstadt was also the municipal councillor in Ghent in 2007.
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What were his roles in the European Union?
Verhofstadt was elected a member of the European Parliament for the term 2009–2014 in the 2009 European Parliament election.
Since then, he has been serving on the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.
In 2009 he was elected President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament.
He is currently the European Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator.
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