Editing Guy Verhofstadt (section)

==Early career==
Born in 1953 in [[Dendermonde]], he became president of the [[LVSV|Liberaal Vlaams Studententverbond]] (Liberal Flemish Students' Association) (1972–1974), while studying [[law]] at the [[Ghent University|University of Ghent]]. He quickly became the secretary of [[Willy De Clercq]], who was at that time the president of the Flemish liberal party ([[Party for Freedom and Progress|PVV]]). In 1982, at age 29, he became president of the party. In 1985, he was elected into the Chamber of Deputies, and became deputy prime minister and minister of budget under Prime Minister [[Wilfried Martens]]. Because of his  economic views and his young age, he became known as "Baby [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]]".<ref name=BabyThatcheretcperFT>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/734494b2-849e-11e6-a29c-6e7d9515ad15 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/734494b2-849e-11e6-a29c-6e7d9515ad15 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|date=27 September 2016|newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |location=London|title= Verhofstadt warns Britain about European Parliament's Brexit power: Assembly's chief negotiator says relationship must avoid 'love-hate' of past 40 years|author=Alex Barker|access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref><ref name=BabyThatcheretcperIndy>{{cite web|title=Guy Verhofstadt: Who is the diehard Europhile who has been appointed as EU's chief Brexit negotiator? From describing David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage as 'rats fleeing a sinking ship' to reportedly being banned from entering Russia, he has often found himself in the spotlight|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/who-is-guy-verhofstadt-brexit-negotiations-article-50-chief-negotiator-a7307346.html|author= Maya Oppenheim|date= 14 September 2016|newspaper=[[The Independent]], London|access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref>

After being ousted from government he became leader of the opposition. After a failed attempt to form a government in November 1991, he changed the PVV into the [[Flemish Liberals and Democrats]] (VLD). This new party attracted many politicians from other parties, notably from the [[People's Union (Belgium)|Volksunie]] (VU) and the [[Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams|Christian People's Party]] (CVP).<ref name=GVvolgensHLN>{{cite web|url=http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/957/Binnenland/article/detail/111836/2007/12/21/Biografie-Guy-Verhofstadt.dhtml|publisher=Het Laatste Nieuws, Brussels|date=21 December 2007|title=Biografie Guy Verhofstadt| access-date=10 March 2017}}</ref>

However, despite the fact that many had high expectations, the party did not manage to outstrip the CVP. Verhofstadt resigned and disappeared from the political scene, only to return to the party's presidency in 1997, with a less radical image. He gradually moved away from [[neoliberalism]] (partly under the influence of his brother [[Dirk Verhofstadt|Dirk]], a [[social liberalism|social liberal]] [[political philosophy|political philosopher]]), and became more of a [[centrist]] figure, a change which especially became clear during his first term as prime minister.<ref name=BabyThatcheretcperIndy/>