Sunday June 9, Belgians will go to the polls for the European elections and will also choose their federal and regional deputies. If the pollsters predict a “Black Sunday”Nick evokes a “Pink Sunday” for his far-right party, Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest). Sitting at the De Beurs café, in Ninove, in East Flanders, this activist refuses to give his name – ” We never know “. But he is inexhaustible about his party, credited with 25% to 27% of voting intentions for the election, which could make it the most important in the future House of Representatives. It would then glean at least 27 seats out of the 150 in the Assembly, or 15 more than in 1991, at the time of what opponents of the nationalist party called “black Sunday”, which saw the Vlaams Belang, then called Vlaams Blok, make a sensational entry into Parliament by quadrupling the number of its votes.
For Nick, there is no doubt: “his” president, Tom Van Grieken, 37, will lead the party beyond 30%. “Not everyone dares to admit that they vote for us yet”, he smiles. In Ninove, a laboratory for extremist training, speech is, on the other hand, freed. Listening to the activist and his friends from the Vlaams Huis (“Flemish house”), the local showcase of the party, the time has come to make “Differently and better” (one of the slogans for the campaign) and “Return Flanders to the Flemish” (another slogan).
Ninove, racist? The city has around 20% foreigners and 5% Muslims. But “visible” – implied, too visible – Nick advances: originating from black Africa, living ” between them “working in Brussels “where I never go again” and not speaking, or not enough, Dutch “which creates problems for the level of little Flemish children at school”.
“No place for foreigners”
The regional deputy Guy D’Haeseleer, who became the most popular elected official in the province, capitalized on these feelings by campaigning against the installation of a mosque and playing on a discomfort that Nick describes in his words: “Before, I filled my shopping bag for 30 euros, today I have nothing for that price. My doctor has stopped practicing and has no successor. In my street, I no longer find ATMs. And then, these foreigners… I have nothing against them, but there really isn’t enough room for them here. » Mr. D’Haeseleer, who joined Vlaams Belang, intends to win the town hall from the Liberal Party during the municipal election in October. “It’s all done”thinks Nick, raising his glass of Trappist beer.
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