Far-right party says agreement has been reached in Flemish parliament

Far-right party says agreement has been reached in Flemish parliament
A figurehead of the far-right Vlaams Belang said that he had reached an agreement with the Flemish parliament's biggest party. Credit: Wikipedia

The far-right Vlaams Belang party has reached an agreement in principle with the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) regarding the formation of a government in Flanders' regional parliament, a representative of the far-right party said.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the day on which the new Flemish parliament was sworn in, Vlaams Belang frontman Filip Dewinter said that there had been an agreement with N-VA leader Bart de Wever on a draft government text which covered a series of issues, such as integration, education and health, according to RTBF.

Speaking to VTM news, Dewinter said that he was satisfied with the text because it contained "all the priorities of the Vlaams Belang," and that he would want his party to participate in government "in any way."

Dewinter and De Wever have met a total of three times— much to the dismay of the other parties in the Flemish parliament, who wish to uphold the so-called "cordon sanitaire," an inter-party agreement to not govern alongside the far-right.

The agreed-upon text could "serve as a base for negotiations between the nationalist NV-A, the liberal Open VLD party and the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V)," Dewinter said, excluding his own party from the negotiations.

Following the regional elections in May, the right-wing, nationalist N-VA remained the biggest party in the region.

But Flander’s biggest winner on election weekend was the Vlaams Belang after its seat count went up to 20 seats from an original 3, thus becoming the second-largest party in the Dutch-speaking region.

Gabriela Galindo

The Brussels Times


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