Vlaams Blok (, VB; ) was a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform,Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. rebranded later as Vlaams Belang. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders.
The party originated from split within the Volksunie (VU) party after the right-wing separatist and national conservative wing became disgruntled with the compromise of accepting Belgian federalism over Flemish interests, and what they saw as the VU's move to the left. The former VU members created the Flemish National Party (VNP) and the Flemish People's Party (VVP) which formed an electoral alliance called Vlaams Blok in 1978, before merging to create Vlaams Blok as a political party in 1979. Vlaams Blok was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement and its track record in the Flemish and Belgian parliament elections was strong, making it one of the most successful nationalist parties in Western Europe and it ultimately surpassed the People's Union in support. The party initially focused solely on the issues of Flemish autonomy and political freedom, which remained its core philosophy, but subsequently gained wider public support through broadening its campaigns to include immigration and law-and-order themes.
All significant Flemish political parties were reluctant to enter coalitions with the Vlaams Blok. Following a 1989 agreement, known as the cordon sanitaire, the party was effectively blocked from entering any level of government. The court of appeal in Ghent in April 2004 ruled that some of the party's organizations had breached the 1981 anti-racism law and that the party sanctioned discrimination. The ruling was made definite on 9 November 2004, and the party shortly after reorganised itself as the Vlaams Belang. By 2004, the party had arguably become the single most popular Flemish party in Belgium, supported by about one in four of the Flemish electorate,De Winter, 2004, p. 6. as well as being one of the most successful radical right-wing populist parties in Europe as a whole.Coffé, 2005, p. 205.
History
Background, Flemish Movement
The Vlaams Blok originated from the loose Flemish Movement, which historically has included an array of organisations seeking, to varying degrees, to promote Flanders. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Flemish nationalists operated within the established political parties, and had close ties with the political left. The early organised political expression of Flemish nationalism was triggered by World War I, and the introduction of universal suffrage and proportional representation in elections. The main party that initially represented the movement was the left-wing nationalist Front Party, founded by former soldiers and sympathizers from the trench wars in Flanders Fields disaffected with their French-speaking, often anti-Flemish, officers that had been unable to communicate with their troops.De Winter, 2004, p. 4. From the 1930s, the main party became the Flemish National Union which turned to collaborate with the Nazis during World War II, as they had promised them increased Flemish autonomy. These circumstances would compromise the re-emergence of Flemish nationalism after the war, although only a faction of the broader movement had actually pursued an agenda of collaboration.De Winter, 2004, pp. 4-5.
The direct predecessor to the Vlaams Blok was the big tent People's Union, which was founded in 1954 as the successor to the Christian Flemish People's Union electoral alliance, that had successfully run for election earlier the same year.Mudde, 2003, p. 83. The party had been careful to choose its leaders from nationalist circles that had not collaborated with the Nazis.De Winter, 2004, p. 5. The People's Union had successfully united various strands of Flemish nationalists into a coherent movement from federalists to separatists, however some Flemish separatists had been suspicious of the People's Union since its outset, and it became clear by the 1970s that the party had moved to a moderate left-liberal course, which led to the defection of its more radical members.Mudde, 2003, pp. 83-84. The remaining nationalist hardliners finally rejected the party's participation in a new five-party government coalition in 1977, and particularly the Egmont pact,De Winter, 2004, p. 2.Mudde, 2003, pp. 84-85. believing it had conceded too much to the francophone government parties.Coffé, 2005, p. 207.
Early years (1978–1988) In late 1977, the rejection of the Egmont pact by the hardliner faction of the People's Union led to the establishment of two new (short-lived) parties; the radical nationalist Flemish National Party (VNP) and the national liberal Flemish People's Party (VVP), respectively led by Karel Dillen and Lode Claes.Mudde, 2003, p. 85. The parties contested the 1978 general elections in a coalition called "Vlaams Blok", where they won 1.4% of the vote and one seat in the Chamber of Representatives (taken by Dillen). On 28 May 1979, the VNP and VVP finally merged to form a new party named Vlaams Blok,Mudde, 2003, p. 87. and Dillen was nominated to be the party's leader for life. The party initially recruited its members from Flemish nationalist organisations, such as the Taal Aktie Komitee, Voorpost, Were Di, and the Order of Flemish Militants, while some local groups also simply turned into local branches of the Vlaams Blok. Since its inception, the party was widely regarded as an extreme right-wing and racist group.
The party did not have much electoral success at first, and was stable at one seat in the 1981 general elections. It stood candidates in very few communities, and was active almost entirely in the city of Antwerp. Having been founded mainly as a protest against the Egmont pact, the party revamped and broadened its platform after the pact collapsed.Mudde, 2003, pp. 87-88. It did not make much progress in the 1985 general elections, and Dillen thus started the so-called "Operation Rejuvenation", allowing for an across-the-board change of the party leadership, integrating many leaders of nationalist youth and student organisations into the party council. The party's youth organisation, the Vlaams Blok Jongeren (VBJ), was founded in 1987 by among others Filip Dewinter and Frank Vanhecke.Mudde, 2003, p. 88.
Starting in 1983, the Vlaams Blok increasingly began focusing on immigration (inspired by the success of other European right-wing populist parties), and on the international day against racism in 1984 held its first conference to discuss the "foreigner problem." Towards the late 1980s, the party also became one of the first in Europe to flirt with an anti-Islam agenda (warning about what it called the "Islamization of Europe") and address the issue of immigrants from majority Muslim societies, in particular Turkish and Moroccan migrant communities in Belgium. Vlaams Blok claimed that such communities were a threat to Flemish ethnic and cultural identity and were linked to crime.Coffé, 2005, p. 208. The same year, Dillen proposed a bill in the Chamber of Representatives to offer cash incentive for immigrants to return to their native country. In April 1987, a group around Roger Frankinouille of the only right-wing competitor to the Vlaams Blok, the anti-tax Respect for Labour and Democracy, switched to the party. The party campaigned for the 1987 general election with the slogan "Own people first" (Eigen volk eerst!, inspired by French National Front slogan "The French first"), and saw a slight victory, winning their first seat in Senate (taken by Dillen), and for the first time two seats in the Chamber (Dewinter and Annemans).Coffé, 2005, p. 209. The party's shift towards focusing on immigration was however criticised by some Vlaams Blok members, and ultimately also led to the defection of some top party figures. The party nevertheless made a clear choice of focussing on the immigration issue, which had, and would, give results in elections.
Rise of the party (1988–2004) The electoral success of the Vlaams Blok began after the younger generation in the party shifted the party's emphasis from Flemish nationalism (separatism) to the immigration issue. In the 1988 local election in Antwerp the party first started to take off, going from 5.5% of the vote in the city to 17.7%,De Winter, 2004, pp. 2 and 6. a success which drew much publicity. On 10 May 1989, based on the Antwerp success,Coffé, 2005, p. 213. the presidents of all major Belgian parties (including the People's Union) signed a cordon sanitaire (hygienic barrier), where the parties agreed to never conclude any political agreements with the Vlaams Blok, nor make immigration a political issue.Mudde, 2003, pp. 88-89. While the Vlaams Blok itself also largely rejected cooperation with other parties, it did increasingly consider such cooperation, particularly in elections in 1994, 1999 and 2000, only to find themselves effectively blocked by the cordon sanitaire.De Winter, 2004, p. 19.Coffé, 2005, pp. 211-212. Although intended to keep the Vlaams Blok from gaining political influence, many argued that the cordon sanitaire in reality helped the strong electoral surge for the party, as it was made into what could be seen as the only "true opposition," and the party was able to bolster its claims that the Belgian political establishment sought to suppress calls for more Flemish autonomy and deny the Flemish voters a voice in national affairs. The agreement was renewed in following years, and Vlaams Blok chairman Karel Dillen was used to call it the "insurance policy" of his party;Coffé, 2005, pp. 213-214.
In December 1988, a major split occurred in the party, when a group who opposed the "Operation Rejuvenation" tried to squeeze the Dewinter-VBJ faction out of the party leadership. Led by Geert Wouters, he accused Dewinter's faction of being "Lepenists", and of attempting to sideline the Flemish question to rather favour the immigration question. Dillen however sided with Dewinter, and Wouters and his group left the party and founded the nationalist pressure group called the Nationalist Association-Dutch People's Movement.Mudde, 2003, p. 89. In 1989, the party won a seat in the Brussels city council, as well as in the European Parliament. There, the Vlaams Blok agreed to form a parliamentary group together with the French National Front and the German The Republicans, called the Technical Group of the European Right. The group lacked an ideological coherence (stemming in part from Le Pen's support for a Belgian state nationalism), and was largely organised on pragmatic grounds simply to get financial support.