Yesterday at an award ceremony in Brussels with the theme of debating Europe at national level, Guy Verhofstadt (ALDE group chairman) was rewarded by Brussels-based on-line news portal, Euractiv, for his efforts to promote democracy and debate across the EU.

Verhofstadt was recognised as "one of the most able politicians of his generation, a thinker and writer, a motivator and a doer who is highly focused on Europe and a real inspiration for European leaders."

Welcoming the Award, Verhofstadt stressed that while the EU needs to "go local" to communicate with Europeans, member states should not shy away from making difficult political decisions and blame everything on Brussels, as they often do. "This needs to change," he said, hoping Europe will be viewed "more positively" in national political communication in the future. 
Verhofstadt particularly underlined that the current economic crisis represents a great opportunity to bring Europe closer to citizens as the EU and its instruments, such as the single euro currency, are "the solution to the current crisis, not the problem".