Guy Verhofstadt Keynote Speaker

Guy Verhofstadt is a leading European liberal, Belgian premier and long-standing political architect of integration. Prime Minister of Belgium (1999–2008) and a member of the European Parliament (2009–2024), he has spent more than four decades at the centre of European politics and reform. As President of the European Movement International since 2023, he now leads the continent’s oldest pro-European organisation, championing a more united and strategically assertive European Union.

In Brussels, Verhofstadt headed the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group from 2009 to 2019 and played a central role in defining the Parliament’s response to the UK’s withdrawal as its Brexit Coordinator and Chair of the Brexit Steering Group between 2016 and 2020. He later co-chaired the Conference on the Future of Europe (2021–2022), guiding citizens’ panels and negotiations that produced 49 concrete proposals on democracy, defence, climate, migration and Europe’s place in the world.

An influential thinker on European integration, Verhofstadt is the author of landmark books including The United States of Europe, De ziekte van Europa (Europe’s Disease) and Europe’s Last Chance: Why the European States Must Form a More Perfect Union. His ideas have been recognised with honours such as the European Book Prize (2007), the Vision for Europe Award (2002), the Outstanding Achievement Award at The Parliament Magazine’s MEP Awards (2019) and the European Liberal Forum’s Liberal Awards Lifetime Achievement prize (2023).

Today, Verhofstadt combines insider experience from European summits with up-to-date insights on war in Ukraine, transatlantic relations, economic security and the challenge of populism. In 2024 he helped drive a European Parliament decision to freeze approval of the EU Council’s budget until member states committed additional Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine, underlining his belief that Europe must match values with hard power. At events such as the European Movement in Scotland’s 2025 annual dinner in Edinburgh and high-level forums across the continent, he offers audiences a candid, forward-looking view of Europe’s choices – and what they mean for governments, businesses and citizens.