Speaker: Guy VERHOFSTADT (Belgium — Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten)
Political group: Renew Europe Group
Date: 2023-11-21
Debate: Proposals of the European Parliament for the amendment of the Treaties (debate)

  Guy Verhofstadt,  rapporteur. – Mr President, first of all, I want to thank also the Spanish Presidency for being here for this debate. It is much appreciated. We all have to recognise that since the approval of the Lisbon Treaty, that was quite a number of years ago, the world has changed dramatically. We have since then, over the last years, lived in a brutal world – the world of what I call empires – in which the sovereignty of the peoples and countries of Europe can, in my opinion, only be secured through an enlarged European Union and a more enhanced European Union. 
I think that we have to be, in this debate today, honest with ourselves. That is, that we are for the moment, not ready for this more brutal world in which we have entered and also not ready for the absolute need for an enlarged European Union to 35 or 37 Member States. Certainly not with Russia that continues its aggression, or maybe with – hopefully not – a return of Trump in the White House next year. 
The key problem that we face in our Union is that too often we react too little too late, because we are paralysed by the request for unanimity in our decision-making. I will not give the whole list, the list is long, but a few examples. It has now been months that we have not been capable of deciding on a 12th sanction package against Russia. We are not capable of refinancing the European Peace Facility to send new weaponry to Ukraine because of unanimity. And we were for a decade not capable of doing something against illegal migration because we enclosed ourselves in unanimity. 
So vetoes and blackmail have become in the European Union, I would say, the standard practice. And if we find a consensus, then we go to the General Assembly of the UN and then we vote one third in favour, one third against and one term third abstains. 
So the question with this report is how to change this. The passerelles, dear colleagues, let’s be honest, have failed. And the reason they have failed is that because there is not one smaller or medium Member State, not even Spain, Poland or Italy, who is ready to give up its veto to strengthen, in fact, the de facto combined veto right of France and Germany under the current rules. 
Therefore this report, I think, is critical and important because we will fundamentally change this by creating a qualified majority by two thirds of the Member States, representing 50% of the population, and dramatically increasing doing so the position of small- and medium-sized Member States. 
We introduce also reinforced qualified majority for important decisions, like, for example, the budget, own resources or the coming into force of Treaty modifications. I think that this way is the way to overcome the unanimity trap in which the European Union has come and fall in for years now. 
In the same spirit, what this report is doing is also reforming Article 7, giving an enhanced role to the European Court of Justice, so that maybe it can work in the future. Enhancing also subsidiarity to the national parliaments and the regional parliaments with legislative power by giving a green card, which does not exist today. And then also increasing European democracy by giving more power to our Parliament, for example, the possibility to take initiatives or also to decide on the income side of the budget and finally, new competences like in defence, health, energy and climate change. 
I want to conclude, Mr President and dear colleagues, by saying let us not make a mistake when we vote tomorrow. And I say that especially to those who are today, by Twitter and by other means, attacking this reform of the European Union. This report will not change the Treaty overnight. This report does not create a European superstate, which is completely ridiculous if we remember that the budget of the European Union is 1% of the European GDP – I do not think with 1% of European GDP, dear colleagues, that we are a superstate. 
The truth is that the approval of this report is needed to start the process, to make use of Article 48, so that the European Council can start the work, so that we can enlarge the Union, we can further unify the continent and be ready for the huge challenge ahead of us. And I would ask you, do not miss that historic opportunity tomorrow.