“We will never work with the Vlaams Belang”

In her election address Flemish liberal leader Gwendolyn Rutten made it clear the Open VLD would not work together with the Flemish far right of Tom Van Grieken, the winners of the 2019 general election, because Vlaams Belang’s values conflict with liberal values.

As the surge of the Vlaams Belang became clear – it is now the second party of Flanders – several liberal politicians toyed with the idea of trashing the cordon thrown around the far right.  Ms Rutten made it clear that this would not happen.

“We must respect the result, but we will never work together with Vlaams Belang because their values conflict with ours.  We will continue to fight for a country that works.  The most important task is step by step to restore people’s belief in politics.  We must do this based on the liberal values that we will defend more than ever.”

“We are and remain a party that believes in optimism, hope and co-operation.”

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