The EU summit in Laeken, 14-15 December 2001. The Belgian presidency of the EU launched the Laeken Declaration which set in train the European Convention, chaired by France's Valérie Giscard d'Estaing (Photo: Council)

Interview

2005: France and Netherlands vote against the Constitution

20th Anniversary

by Koert Debeuf, Brussels,

Guy Verhofstadt MEP was Belgian prime minister from 1999 until 2008, the period that started with the Treaty of Nice and ended with the Treaty of Lisbon.

In between, in 2001, under his leadership, the Belgian presidency of the EU launched the Laeken Declaration which set in train the European Convention, chaired by France's Valérie Giscard d'Estaing.

The goal was to write a European Constitution. When that constitution was voted down in the referenda in France and the Netherland...