Briefing | Swell of pride

The hard right is getting closer to power all over Europe

It does not need to join governments to affect policymaking

People protesting about the cost of living at a demonstration organised by the Alternative for Germany — Image: Getty Images

Sep 14th 2023|SINT-GENESIUS-RODE and Raguhn-Jessnitz

IN SINT-GENESIUS-RODE, a well-to-do commuter town in the hills south of Brussels, a crowd of 50 or so gathered on September 2nd in a parish hall to drink champagne and promote the dismemberment of Belgium. The meeting was organised by Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), a right-wing party that rails against such threats to the Flemish way of life as Islam, immigration and—most pernicious of all—the French language. The town is in Flanders (the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium), but French-speakers have been moving in for decades and are now the majority. The only way to stop the rot, explains Klaas Slootmans, a member of the Flemish regional parliament from Vlaams Belang, is for Flanders to declare independence.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Swell of pride”