Brussels most fanatical Europhile Guy Verhofstadt has told CNN that the European Union will “die from the inside” should nationalists and populists see big gains in this week’s European Parliament elections.
Verhofstadt, who is the EU parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, has railed in the past that more competencies (power) needs to be transferred from the member state to the EU. Now he warns that the democratic revolution taking place against this centralisation of power into the hands of the unelected EU bureaucracy could lead to the destruction of the super-state project.
“It’s not a question of more or less Europe. It’s a question of different,” Verhofstadt told CNN.
“The big problem we have in Europe is the enormous distance between the European dream, shared by more Europeans than ever, and then in practice the European Union, which is absolutely not seen as the translation of the European dream” the senior MEP went on to say.
Eurosceptic parties from across the political spectrum are expected to make significant gains in this years European Parliament elections and Italy’s nationalist Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has set out to unite the right-wing, populist and nationalist parties across the bloc.
It is Salvini’s hope along with his allies such as Marine Le Pen in France that a strong nationalist coalition in the EU parliament can influence the commission and council and stir the EU away from its current course towards a federalised super-state.
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