Welcome to The Flemish Republic
Why the Belgian federation should be dissolved and Flanders should become an independent state. |
|
 News
“Europe Must Remain European” - An interview with Frank Vanhecke, MEP
06/05/2009 :: Frank Vanhecke is the leader of the Vlaams Belang in the European Parliament. He explains why the coming European elections are so important.
Belgium, an artificial country in which two peoples, Dutch-speaking Flemings in the north of the country and French-speaking Walloons in the south, are forced to live together, is in many ways the model of the European Union.
While the EU does not tolerate any opposition to its supranational project and attempts to depict anyone who opposes the Treaty of Lisbon as a “xenophobe,” Belgium does not tolerate the Vlaams Belang either because we strive for the independence of Flanders and want to safeguard the national identity of the Flemish people.
How do the authorities make life difficult for you?
They do so in several ways. They want to rob our party of its income. This is the new strategy of the Belgian establishment after a previous attempt to kill us in court. In 2004, Vlaams Blok, the predecessor of Vlaams Belang, was convicted and banned as a “racist” organisation. Just like Vlaams Belang today, Vlaams Blok pleaded for a firm immigration policy: this implies a limited access to the social security system, a restriction of imported marriages and family reunification and a deportation of illegal aliens and criminal immigrants. After the 2004 verdict we established a new party and went on to win the elections.
Another way to silence us is through the media. In the war against our party, the media are in league with the state. Political topics such as crime, the failed integration of immigrants and Flemish independence have been made into taboo subjects which the press does not write about.
The authorities also harass us personally. At the demand of the Belgian government, the European Parliament has removed my parliamentary immunity. Belgium wants to prosecute me and rob me of my political rights. My “crime” is a leaflet, by a local chapter of the party, in which it was alleged that some under-aged criminals were foreigners. This cannot be proven since no information about the identity of under-aged criminals is disclosed. The leaflet was not written by me. I had not even seen it. But the authorities, though they know who wrote it, hold me responsible because I was the VB party leader at the time of the publication of this leaflet.
Why do they consider your party such a threat?
In The Times of April 24, 2004, the British journalist Stephen Pollard wrote that “The VB’s ‘racism’ was merely an excuse. The real reason why the authorities have been bent on banning the VB for years has nothing to do with racism and the rights of immigrants. It is that the party advocates secession from Belgium and the establishment of a Republic of Flanders.” Pollard hit the nail on the head.
You fear that Belgium’s present is Europe’s future?
In my fifteen years as a member of the European Parliament I have noticed how the EU is increasingly coming to resemble Belgium. The EU does not tolerate dissent, it tries to intimidate everyone who is critical of its project, it does not respect the verdict of the voters, as we have seen following the French and Dutch referendums against the European Constitution. Despite the “No” vote, Brussels continues as if nothing has happened. To Flemings this is all very familiar. We have been fighting Brussels since Belgium was imposed on us in 1830. We are freedom fighters, which is why we oppose Belgium as well as the European superstate in the making.
Democracy requires conflicting opinions, but Belgium and the EU do not allow them. Freedom of speech cannot be restrained. Not even in the name of multicultural peace and so-called “tolerance.” Freedom is the pillar of European civilisation. That is why we stand on the barricades. Because we want to be in charge in our own country. And because Europe must remain European and free.
Previous page
|
|
|
