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Guy Verhofstadt

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2024-01-08
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2024-01-08
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  1. “Is Eustell candidate, Tony Blair, because I have the impression that Alistair Campbell is still the man behind Tony Blair who is making his speeches.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I don't like the word technique. So what I like in politics is rhetoric are important. Passion is important. Given direction to society is important. Giving vision. I don't like all this stuff of pragmatism. We have to be pragmatic. And if you are pragmatic, we have a problem and we solve the problem. And okay, that's our job. No. Or for those who are living in the postrude now. There is no hope in all societies for the moment. That's crisis of politics, because hope has been destroyed. Because politicians don't express anymore hope and vision. I don't want from a leader in politics that he knows the A, B, and C of every dossier and everything. That's not necessary. He needs to give direction. People need it. Otherwise, we continue to live in this post-truth period where there is no facts and no reality.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “So I can now start about the budget we reduced, the debt in Belgium to 80% coming from more than 130%. That's a good thing. And I failed in finding a compromise on giving voting rights to foreign people. And that caused a lot of trouble in my government. That are practical things or concrete dossiers.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Democracy. So Zelensky makes a difference. We make a difference. And so it's necessary that we ask young people to engage in politics because politics is necessary, but with politics you can change the course of history of your country, of your local community.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Well, one of the points that I will raise in the book was inspired by your book, Alaste. The point about an individual, a citizen, can make a change, can change things. That was one of the topics in the book. You remember that. And I think that is true. That's the big thing that we have to repeat. An individual with a conviction can make a difference. You look one of the biggest men that I have ever met was Mandela. He made the difference. He ended apartheid because he had the conviction and he had also an attitude to make it happen. And I can give you a lot of examples like that. Zelensky will make a difference, you know, without Zelinsky, this war was already over and not in the right way, not in favor of the Ukrainian...”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “possible on the lowest level you do it on national, on the European level. It's absolutely not eliminating sovereignty. It's the opposite. It's reinventing sovereignty. What is the sovereignty today of Britain in managing migration? Zero. What is the sovereignty of France, Germany in supporting Ukraine? Zero. They are not capable. They need the Americans. Otherwise, it's not possible. So we need to reinvent sovereignty. And sovereignty for us and for Britain means sovereignty on the European level. If we are not capable to defend or interest on the European level, we whipped out by the Chinese, the Indians, the Americans. It's already the case today. Look to the digital infrastructure in Europe and the tech industry. We make the data and the Americans make the profits.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “And from time to time, also the opposite. There are, in my opinions, too much regulations on the single market that can return to the member states. A federal system is not a system, is based on subsidiarity. You do it on the level where you can best do it. What you can do on the local level, you do on the local level. What you can best do on the regional level, you do the regional level. What best is you can do on the national, you do on the national level. But where there is an added value to do it together on the European level, you do it on the European level. That's subsidiarity. That has nothing to do with super state. I know with super states, super states is France. Everything is decided in Paris. Super state are the Dutch, the Netherlands. Everything is decided in Denarc. That's the consequence of Napoleon. But a federal system is the opposite of a super state. A federal system says, no, subsidiarity is the basis. You do it on the lowest level possible. And if it is not...”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Yeah, a European Defense Union that I want. And that can be the European pillar of NATO that would make sense so that you have a North American pillar, that you have a European pillar, maybe even an Asian pillar in the future with countries like Japan and Australia, New Zealand, and so on and so on. But that is the way forward. We are not capable. We spend four times more than the Russians, but we are not capable to support Ukraine in a sufficient way for the brutal invasion they have to suffer from from Russia. That's the reality on the ground today.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “The Russians, but we are not capable to defend ourselves. If tomorrow Trump's come back in America and he decides to go outside NATO or to change NATO, so what he already said a few times in the past, there is no security in Europe. But we spent 240, 230 billion euros on it. It's the biggest waste of money. We do every time everything 20 same”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Well, I think Europe, a small government executive, 15, 16 people, not the big commission that we have today, where you have a number of commissioners who have not even a portfolio. Secondly, a union that is based on a serious budget to manage the problems we have, certainly on defense. I think defense, for example, is one of the big scandals in Europe on waste of money. You know what we spent in Europe. We spent more or less 230, 240 billion euros, so that's 210, 220 billion pounds on defense without the UK. At the moment, the UK was inside, we spent nearly 300 billion on defense. And you know what the Chinese are spending today? 240. We spent as the same amount as the Chinese. We spend four times more on defense than...”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “No, no, the problem is, Alice, that there is no federal structure in Europe. That's the problem. It's an intergovernmental patchwork based on unanimity voting. So the 27 member states need to be in agreement. Tomorrow there will be 35 or 36.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “The fact is that Europe today, and you see it in every file, because of his bad governance structure, is always acting too little too late. That's the problem of the European Union. It concerns migration, it concerns the pandemic. We are talking about the aftermath of the financial crisis. We can talk about the war in Ukraine. We are acting too little too late. That's always the same.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “I think so because we're going to live long, both of us, because politics is not a bad environment to live long, I think. And secondly, because I think it's clear you look to the figures today, you look to what people are saying. I was in the Rejoin March a few months ago in London. And young people are clearly in favor to return to union. What I hope in the meanwhile is that we can change the European Union in a better union. Because the fact that Britain was exiting the European Union was a failure for the European Union. If a country, a big country, an important country, a powerful country like the UK saying we leave the EU, that was a failure for the EU. And that was a reason for us to reform ourselves.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Don't we even remember that I used that word, but okay. It's possible that I did it. So it could be, but that is not the main force that drives me. What drives me is to get it right. And in Brexit, that was to keep at least Britain in a customs union and single market construction. And the fact that it didn't materialize has nothing to do with what I said of your colleague, but had to do with the incapacity of the British political system to find an agreement and a compromise bridging the classical divisions between opposition and majority. Sorry, that's my firm conviction.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Constituency is always the same. It's my constituency in Belgium. So that's Flanders. That's my constituency. And secondly, I'm pretty sure that we tried to find a compromise on Brexit, keeping at least the UK into the single market. That was our goal. And that would have been good and for Europe and for Britain.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “I don't think that I was ever provocative towards British politics on the country. I love to follow British politics and British culture. You know, I have a number of hobbies and one of my hobbies is racing with British cars. So I like Britain. I love Britain. But the fact that I'm attacking, for example, I'm very provocative to Nigel Farres, for example, in the European Parliament, to other hardline Brexiteers. That's the difference in opinion. That's a difference of point of view. That has nothing to do with provocation.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Swiss GDP. We have 1%, and everybody's talking about the super state. The reality is that in the world of tomorrow, the brutal world of tomorrow with China, with India, with the US, with Russia that wants to become again an empire, we can only be safe and in security when we work together in one big continental organization. I'm sorry, the world of tomorrow is not a wealth of nation states. It's a world of empires. That is the brutal world of tomorrow.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Think has an enormous impact because it's mainly a very popular driven, populist driven. Naturally, I'm not very objective in that sense that I read The Guardian or the Independent, but I don't think that the majority of the British electorate doesn't read the Guardian or the FT or the Independent. things that I have seen in newspapers like the Express, for example, is awful and is not the reality. So they are talking about a super state Europe. You know what the super state Europe is. The super state Europe is 1% of European GDP. That's a super state Europe. One percent. The American federal system has a budget of 25% of the American GDP. The Swiss confederations, not even a federation, has a budget of 15% of the”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Parties, so there is one solid attitude and opinion and strategy from our country towards such negotiations. And that didn't happen in Britain.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “If you organize a referendum, you have to follow it. So in most, when I was a Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, my relations were with the people surrounding Theresa May and Theresa May herself. And that was, I have to tell you, very positive. Like I have also very positive feeling about Starmer, who was then the representative of labor for the Brexit negotiations. The only point, and I said it already during our interview, is this incapacity in British politics for both sides to make an agreement or a compromise on a question so existential for a country as are we in or are we out the EU and if we are out EU what is our relationship with the EU even in Belgium I have to tell you even in Belgium with all our differences and with all the tensions we have we would make a compromise between the different political”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “What a question. Well, in fact, I never met Truce or Johnson as prime minister. So I met Truce later on when she was not longer prime minister in one or other meeting in Japan on our relationship with China. And I had a lot of administration, I have to tell you, for Theresa May because with her I got a few meetings and she understood very well and her attempts were very I think serious and unfortunately they didn't materialize her attempts to have an agreement and the majority in the British Parliament so and then David Cameron yeah I think he did the stupidity to do a referendum about the EU and the stupidity is also that in principle based on the British constitution it's an advisory referendum but yeah advisory referendum doesn't exist naturally”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Look, there is no one European country for the moment making a deal with Rwanda for whatever African country. That's the point.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Exactly. If you see what they are saying about migration, well, there are many populist right-wing parties who are more moderate than the conservatives for the moment in Britain.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Not in Britain, you're first past the post. In a few times now, in a few months now, maybe Farage will be on the list of the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party have become, I will not say completely the AFD in Germany, but is in extreme water, no?”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Thinking that it would be a referendum about Brexit. That's nonsense naturally because the electoral system of Britain is absolutely not the referendum. It's first past the post. You know it better than I do. So what I saw was that besides the general crisis in politics that we see, and we can talk about it because I think our social media play an important role in that crisis for the moment, what we saw is a country that classically with first past the post works, opposition, majority, and they will never, could never work together, while the interest of Britain at that time was that labor and moderate conservatives work it out a compromise with us. That was, in fact, the interest of the UK at that moment. And they could not do it because of the electoral and political system.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “So Starmo was the responsible of labor for the Brexit. We pushed them to make an agreement, to have a common understanding of the Brexit they want and was possible. We pushed them. And every time we saw that it was impossible, putting Stalmer and Lydington together, what they did a few times never materialized in a compromise. Never because the British politic doesn't work like that. That was also the stupidity from the Remainers during this whole period when they pushed for an election, a parliamentary election at the request of Boris Johnson.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “the possibility to govern for a majority. That's what is happening. And I have seen that in Brexit, nearly every day, every week, every month. Because we from the continent, we from the European Union, we tried to have a compromise where there was an exit, a Brexit, but not a hard version of it in saying, maybe it's good to stay in the single market because the single market has been invented by whom? By Margaret Thatcher. So maybe it's not a bad idea to stay in the single market and not to cut you off from your main market as happened with Brexit. That was our idea, because we know very well that there was a majority during this referendum. So we need to be serious about that. And we pushed both sides, the moderate conservative, the conservative party led by Theresa May and Lydington and all these people. And we pushed all”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “You have, in general, naturally a crisis of politics. It's not a unique British problem, but your electoral system makes it more visible. The crisis of politics that you see is everywhere in Europe, but you see a very sharp image of it or representation of it in Britain, I think, because of the electoral electoral.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “To come into Europe, maybe to lose your life before you can ask for asylum. That's completely crazy. So we have a system of non-existing legal migration that push people into asylum schemes. And it's asylum, you can only ask for it if, first of all, pay a smuggler to arrive in Europe. So we have to really completely revolutionize this. And that has to be done, I think, by all European countries. And together, Britain and Europe together.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “That's true, but the asylum system everywhere, not only in Britain, but also in the rest of Europe, is abused naturally because there is no legal migration route. So if there are no legal migration routes available, what people try to do is to abuse the existing asylum route. That is what is happening. And so the first way to tackle this illegal migration is to create and have the possibility of legal migration. That's the first thing to do. And the second thing to do is to organize yourself at the outside borders of Europe and the European Union. I'm always asking myself why it is necessary that you have to come into Europe to ask for asylum. Why somebody was really persecuted in his country cannot ask for asylum in a consulate of a European country? Why it's necessary that you jump into the arms of the smugglers?”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “Yeah, because for historical reasons, for the fact that they have already family living there, most of these people are saying, I want to go to Britain, why? Yeah, I have a cousin already living there, or I have a link with that country. And the only way to tackle that problem is, in my opinion, is on a continental scale, in my opinion, on a European scale, because the problem is not a British problem alone or a French problem alone or a German problem alone. But if you put yourself outside the system, then it's far more difficult to manage it. So it's very ironic that Brexit came because the Brexiteers used migration and illegal migration in saying we have to cut it. And then the result of it is exactly the opposite. So that's the reality.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “I find it an awful idea that you're going to put your problem with asylum seekers and migration towards an African country. I find that the most awful idea that you can have. On top of that, I think that a lot of the problems in the British recent history on migration have something to do with Brexit. Sorry, I see the figures. I can look to the figures as you can look to the figures and everybody can see them. That is that there is an enormous increase in illegal migration since Brexit. Not because of Brexit since Brexit.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “I think colonialism everywhere in the 19th century is the most awful atrocities that you can imagine. I don't think that we can imagine today in the beginning of the 21st century what really happened at the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century in every colonial power being the Dutch there, being the Belgians there, being the Brits there, be it the French there. Incredible. Maybe the only exception I would make is the Portuguese because they had a little bit another way of looking to the territories that they discovered. They mixed themselves with the local population. But we, I think, our grandparents were responsible for a colonial period that is maybe the most awful time in history that you can imagine.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “That started already now a few after Rwanda and after the fact that we apologize for Rwanda, we started also to look into our role in Congo. That's something very new, in fact, in Belgian politics. We have an inquiry committee that had made conclusions that have also made apologies to Congolese people and to what happened in history, the role of Leopold II and so on.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “to Kihali to say sorry and to say yeah we are responsible for the suffering that that you have seen for the most incredible suffering that you can see in human history 800 000 people in two months in the most brutal way it's a genocide at the moment where everybody was saying ah well it may never happen again it will not never happen again but it happens again and again and again”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “I went there. I was there just a few years after the genocide and I went into a church and churches and with bodies, with bones totally alone. And I came to a conclusion, and my conclusion was, yeah, there is more in politics than the deficit than the figures. Then, okay, I need to reduce the deficit, the current deficit of Belgium, and that's a huge task, I can tell you, to reduce it to a certain amount and to lower it. There is more than that. And what is more, there are values, there are principles, there is human dignity, there is the existence of humanity. That's the important that that's far more important than all ideological battles that you can have and battles between political parties that you can have. So that changed me.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, but also moderate Tutus, that have been massacred, killed in the most brutal way by Hutu extremists. So 800,000 people were killed in two months, Anastasia, in two months, in the most brutal way. Every day these Hutu extremists went Interhamwe was their name, went into concentration camps, killing people with the Makchetos. First their arm, then their feet, the most incredible thing. I went there as a representative of the Belgian parliament because we believed that there were mistakes made by the Belgian government and by the international community, by Kofi Annan, not to name him, in managing that. They know in advance that a genocide was in preparation. That was the key point. And they did nothing to avoid.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “That depends. I don't know if Mr. Stewart is in agreement with you, but that happens something indeed. What happened was my involvement in the Rwanda genocide. So I was appointed by the Belgium Senate to inquire in what happened. One of the most awful human tragedies that happened in Africa.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “you if they believe in you. Politics doesn't work like most people are saying today. That's the reason why we have a crisis of politics. It doesn't work that people are waking up in the morning at 7 o'clock and are saying, oh, I have a bright political idea about Europe, for example. It doesn't work like that. What you need are politicians who have passion and vision. Those are the two key elements in my opinion to be a successful politician and a successful volition is somebody who can change things in society, who can bring change and reform.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Yeah, yeah, true, but you can be too much, you know, so that you make more enemies and you gain ground in politics. So that's certainly one of my weakest points. And then the other way, I think I'm passionate about politics. And I think that politics needs to work a supply-side politics. So we all know supply-side economics. It was popular at a certain moment decades ago. Well, I believe in supply side politics that it is the politician who has to propose something to the public opinion and not to follow the public opinion. I don't like those who are saying, oh, you have to listen to the public opinion. And that's a good politician. No, that's the opposite. A good politician has a vision, a direction about the future, creates hope for the public opinion, and can describe it, can show it. And people will follow you if they like.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “The advantage is that you can have really a focus on what needs to change in society. I did politics to gain power. And power gaining power in politics is a positive thing. It's not a negative thing. So people are saying, ah, you are certainly in politics because you want power. And I'm saying yes. I am in politics because I want power because power is the only way to change things in society. If you are in politics and you say I'm in politics, but I'm not there for power. Where are you there then? For the money, for the protocol, for the, if a politician tells you, I want to go in politics. I am in politics, but not for the power. Then, oh, put him aside because that's not what politics is about. Politics about is about gaining power and trying to use that power.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Yeah, already then. It's crazy. It's crazy. But when I was really before I went to university, I was already involved and so on in the local section of the Flemish Liberal Party and so on and so on. So when people ask me, what you do for profession, I'm saying, yeah, I'm a professional politician. I know nothing else. Than to do politics, but let's be clear, politics is quite important. There are people now saying, well, politics, politics, dirty business and so on, we don't want it. But the reality is exactly the opposite. There is no normal governance possible of a society without politics because you have to make choice. Otherwise, it will be the jungle. So politics is quite an interesting thing to do, I think.”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “When I was young, 12 years or 30 years old, I was already talking about politics, discussing with my father about politics, about the Vietnam War, because that was then the main topic. Who is responsible for it? The communists or the Americans, the death of Kennedy, who is behind it. And I saw when I was 50, 60 years old, I said, yeah, I want to become Prime Minister of my country because I want to change things. When you were 15?”

    2024-01-08 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 54. Guy Verhofstadt: Is there a case for a European army? · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source