Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten (VLD)
The Flemish right-wing party VLD is a member of the European political party ELDR and currently holds three seats in the European Parliament group ADLE.
Although the EU is one of the greatest constructions Belgium has taken part in, fifty years after its creation, citizens are becoming disillusioned as the promise of a strong EU has not yet been fulfilled. According to the VLD the EU is victim of its success: the more member states there are, the more difficult it is to take decisions. This is mainly due to the fact that in many cases decisions still require unanimity. Therefore, the VLD advocates for the application of greater qualified majority voting in topics such as foreign policy, political and judicial cooperation, fiscal policy and agriculture policy. They believe that the EU owes its success to the convergence of national policies, thus it is important to keep harmonising these policies at a European level.
In the coming years, the EU must draw up a new socio-economic project that goes further than the current Lisbon process. An agreement on minimum and maximum norms in the area of the job market, unemployment protection, business tax, etc. must be reached while taking into account each country’s traditions.
The EU also needs to gain more competencies over international policy in order to deal with the challenges facing the EU from emerging countries which are demographically stronger. Therefore the VLD thinks that it is necessary to enhance European diplomacy through the creation of a European Minister for Foreign Affairs. An efficient European army should also be formed to support the diplomatic wing of the EU. This army should not replace NATO but act as a second pillar in NATO, a European pillar beside the American one. Finally, the NATO should extend its membership to non-Atlantic partners.