The agreement concluded between Vrij Ranst and Vlaams Belang was made without consulting Open Vld, the liberal party clarified. “Like everyone, I learned through the press that Vrij Ranst was going to collaborate with Vlaams Belang. This agreement was sealed without our knowledge,” underlined the president of the Flemish liberals Eva De Bleeker, confirming that several members of her party appeared on the Vrij Ranst list.
First in Belgium: the medical cordon broken in Ranst in the province of Antwerp
The statutes of the Open VLD are clear on any collaboration with the far right: “the representatives of the Open VLD will not collaborate in any form with parties or groups which pursue objectives contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “, recalls the Flemish liberal party in a press release.
The PIT list includes three elected members of the CD&V. Their party card was withdrawn from them, underlined the Christian Democratic party. “We will never accept that members of the CD&V ally themselves with Vlaams Belang. Our democratic principles and values are more important than a few functions,” the Flemish Christian Democrats were indignant.
For its part, the N-VA indicated on Saturday that no member of its party appeared among the local lists allied to Vlaams Belang.
The mayor defends himself
“PIT and Vrij Ranst are local lists, Vlaams Belang is a national party. There are points in their program with which we do not agree but, in Ranst, these points are not present,” argued the future mayor. “I think it’s important to have good management here, in Ranst, rather than sticking to principles,” he explained at the RTBF microphone.
At the national level, it would in theory be “more difficult” to collaborate with the nationalist and xenophobic party, Bart Goris further defended to Belga.
“I tried to contact members of the N-VA several times, up to six times, but they did not respond,” he concluded.
According to Flemish nationalists, this version is not entirely accurate.
