Elections 24: What does Vlaams Belang stand for?

Vlaams Belang is described as a political party of the radical-right with Flemish independence as a cornerstone of its platform. But what does the party stand for?

Vlaams Belang is a party of the radical right focusing on Flemish nationalism. The party wants to split up Belgium and for Flanders to become an independent country.

In addition, asylum and migration are particularly important issues for this party. Vlaams Belang thinks there are too many migrants and asylum seekers in Belgium, which, it says, threatens Flemish values and standards. The party wants refugees to be helped in their own part of the world and not in Belgium.

Vlaams Belang also has migrants in its sights when it comes to security and crime, two other issues the party is committed to.

On socio-economic issues, the party has moved to the left in recent years and has made proposals for higher wages and pensions.

VRT News asked the party what its three main positions were are ahead of the 9 June elections:

Stop migration: refugees should be given assistance in their own region. Europe's external borders should be more strictly guarded and an asylum and migration stop to Belgium should be introduced.

Make work pay again: Vlaams Belang supports a higher minimum wage, a drastic increase in take-home pay (through lower taxes) and a higher minimum pension.

Make justice fair again: all sentences must be served fully. In addition, prison overcrowding should be tackled by allowing prisoners who do not have Belgian nationality to serve their prison sentence in their country of origin.

A (brief) history of Vlaams Belang

Vlaams Belang is the successor of Vlaams Blok, a party established in 1977, when the most radical wing of the Flemish nationalist party Volksunie split off, under the leadership of Karel Dillen.

The party initially campaigned heavily on state reforms and Flemish independence. Gradually, the Vlaams Blok starts to focus more on the role played by foreigners.  Migration becomes one of the main planks of the party’s programme. The Vlaams Blok wants "the vast majority of non-European immigrant workers to return to their own homeland".

The party successfully launches several hard-hitting election campaigns. In 1991, in the elections, Vlaams Blok completes a giant leap, while just about all other parties lose ground. Election Day is later dubbed the first Black Sunday. 

A year later, rising star Filip Dewinter proposes his infamous 70-point plan, focusing on tough return policies for migrants. The plan is fiercely criticised. Many say it violates the European Convention on Human Rights.

Spurred on by Jos Geysels, the leader of the Flemish greens, all other Flemish parties agree not cooperate with the Vlaams Blok at any political level. The ‘cordon sanitaire’ is born. 

The party continues to do well in following years but suffered a blow in 2004. 3 not-for-profit organisations behind the Vlaams Blok are convicted of violations of racism legislation. The party leaders feel they are being silenced. A few months later, the party gains a quarter of the Flemish vote. 

The conviction poses a threat to the party continuing to receive its government funding, causing Vlaams Blok to morph into Vlaams Belang. At the time, the party is led by Gerolf Annemans, Filip Dewinter and party chairman Frank Vanhecke.

But the party’s rise does not last. In 2009, the party suffered its first heavy electoral defeat. And even after that, the party does not do as well as before. After a poor result in 2014, Tom Van Grieken - then 28 years old - comes to the helm of Vlaams Belang.

The new chairman - who is still in charge today - gets the party back on its feet. In the last Flemish elections in 2019, the party achieved another splendid result. The N-VA - which emerged victorious from the elections - started negotiations with Vlaams Belang, but they broke down because - according to the N-VA - no other party was willing to join a coalition with Vlaams Belang.

Outgoing Euro MP Tom Vandendriessche heads the Vlaams Belang's list of candidates for the European elections.