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European budget 2014-2020: seven years of bad luck?

Guy Verhofstadt, Member of the European Parliament and Leader of the ALDE Group, spoke on 9 March in Paris during an event organised by the Maison de l’Europe in partnership with Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute. You will find below a selection of the main elements of his talk and of the ensuing debate.

Guy Verhofstadt intervened to promote his new book with Daniel
Cohn-Bendit, Debout L’Europe ! (Arise, Europe!). His talk, introduced by
Catherine Lalumière, President of the Maison de l’Europe de Paris, and
presented by Éric Maurice, Editor-in-Chief of presseurop.eu, was a call
to break with the “small steps” method in favour of a “great leap
forward” in European integration. This was followed by a lively debate
with the large audience gathered to hear the MEP. Representatives from
the CNAM, Notre Europe – Jacques Delors Institute and the
Representation of the European Commission in France asked questions
about the 2014 elections, the European budget negotiations and the
European Defence Community, which led to a passionate call to overcome
fear of the European project. His talk and the ensuing debate gave Guy
Verhofstadt the opportunity to share his opinions on the main topics of
the following analysis.