Parliament got off to a strong start during the last legislature, but has fallen into hesitation since the war in Ukraine, the former prime minister believes. “That has everything to do with the fact that the center of gravity remains with the Council,” he says. “The member states actually remain in charge of the system and they have to decide unanimously. So that slows everything down.”
“This parliament might go once morest that, but it does not dare and does not do so. Why not? Because they still remain parliamentarians who represent a member state and not an idea of Europe.” As long as parliament leaves the focus on the member states, it will not become a real parliament, Verhofstadt believes.