Belgium, holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, today called for closer EU integration, including a constitution and funding of the 15-nation bloc through direct taxation.
In his first speech to the European Parliament since assuming the presidency on Sunday, Belgian Prime MinisterGuy Verhofstadt said the EU should think boldly about its future.
"The European Union does not have its own budgetary powers, its own real resources. Most funding comes from percentages based on member states' GDP (gross domestic product)," said Mr Verhofstadt, a pro-market Flemish liberal.
"We must dare to ask the question whether it is the right way to fund the Union's activities
in this indirect way. Perhaps a direct way would be more legitimate and democratic," he said.
Mr Verhofstadt also said he would push for an EU constitution, which he said would help clarify the powers of the supranational institutions, member states and their regions.
"This is an idea whose time has come," he said. "No subject must be taboo," he added.
Mr Verhofstadt repeated his support for a democratically elected president of the European Commission, the EU's Brussels-based executive body, and suggested turning the Council of Ministers - the Union's policy-making body which groups national leaders - into a second chamber of the Parliament.
Mr Verhostadt said the aim of such reforms was to make the EU more democratic and open in response to criticisms, notably during the recent Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty, that the Union had become too opaque and remote from citizens.