Guy Verhofstadt (Better 2000s)

Guy Verhofstadt is the 47th Prime Minister of Belgium (elected 1999).

Developer Notes

 * In  OTL Belgium in the 2000s suffered economically. Guy Verhofstadt was Prime Minister during Belgium's first government not to include the Christian Democratic Party in it's parliament and the fist to include Green Parties. His own party being a socially liberal democratic party with a socialist platform and pan European mindset. He increased social alimonies while decreasing taxation (increasing government expense while decreasing government income) which in relation to the economic scare brought on by 9/11 saw the economy go into a recession. His party being a proponent of open borders and liberal citizenship policies extended the vote to none EU residents. By his second term the parliament no longer had even the Greens being dominated largely by Liberal Socialist. The Party's belief in Universal Citizenship extended to the point of permitting none Belgians to be tried in Belgian courts under the "Universal Competence Law". These cases usually had no weight and served only to damage international relations or insult political rivals. His second government weakened but did not remove those laws. Still in 2002 he was awarded for his work towards greater European unity.