VLAAMS BELANG BLUES: LONG STANDING PARTY DIVISIONS

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001646

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM BE
SUBJECT: VLAAMS BELANG BLUES: LONG STANDING PARTY DIVISIONS
CREATE PARTY RIFT


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The long-festering divisions inside the
far-right Vlaams Belang (VB) have resulted in an open rift,
with three party mainstays opting to resign from the party's
executive board. Party President Bruno Valkeniers has
managed to impose some face-saving cosmetic changes to the
party's image, but hardliners stay at the helm. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Member of Parliament Bruno Valkeniers became Vlaams
Belang's president in March 2008. This sleek businessman
appeared to be the right man too steer the party onto a more
moderate course than that set by the party's far right
predecessor, Vlaams Blok. His predecessor as president,
Frank Vanhecke, had been anointed by the party's founding
fathers, but he had largely failed to impose his own style on
the party. Party hardliners, Flemish Parliament floor leader
Filip Dewinter and federal representative Gerolf Annemans had
pointed to the party's electoral successes to foreclose any
internal discussions.


3. (SBU) The new party's first great disappointment came in
2006 when the party failed to win control over the Antwerp
local government Lijst De Decker (LDD),the party of
Representative Jean-Marie Dedecker, and with the New Flemish
Alliance (N-VA) of Bart De Wever, on ways to form a strong
right-wing alliance. Talks on a "Forza Flandria" soon
collapsed because of internal rivalries inside the Vlaams
Belang and the incapacity of VB to shed its far-right radical
trappings.


4. (SBU) The 2009 regional and European elections were
another setback for the party. It tumbled from 19 percent of
the Flemish vote in the 2007 general election to 15 percent
in 2009. Valkeniers and other moderate party officials
argued that the party was sitting on a lot of cash because of
public subsidies given to political parties, but that it had
no real political weight because the mainstream Flemish
political parties refused all political dealings with the
Vlaams Belang (a policy known as the "cordon sanitaire").
This made Valkeniers opt for a change of style. He argued,
logically, that the first condition to win over the other
parties was to refrain from spewing racist hatred. Still,
Valkeniers' proposal unleashed a bitter confrontation that
pitted Vanhecke and former regional parliamentarian
Marie-Rose Mrel against Annemans and Dewinter. The
confrontation between the two clans peaked when Dewinter
obstructed Morel's attempt to become the party's deputy
president.


5. (SBU) During a party council meeting on November 28,
Valkeniers managed to win approval for a watered-down "new
vision." But at the very moment his text was being adopted,
Vanhecke, Morel, and Flemish parliamentarian Karim Van
Overmeire announced that they were quitting the party
executive, exposing more clearly than ever before the deep
division inside the party.


6. (SBU) Under the "new vision" adopted by the party council,
the Vlaams Belang will now reach out to other parties and
advocacy groups. It will adopt a milder style and it will
seek to enlist a broader range of party activists.
Valkeniers can find some solace in the fact that after all
these years the Vlaams Belang has come to terms with the need
to reassess its current position and future. But his "new
vision" will have to be implemented by an executive board
composed of nationalist hardliners loyal to Dewinter and
Annemans.


7. (SBU) Comment: As long as the end of Belgium remains its
stated goal and the party cannot refrain from baiting
immigrants, there is very little hope that Vlaams Belang can
successfully reach out to other political parties. Its
current problems provide the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) and
Dedecker's LDD with an even greater opportunity to attract
disenchanted Vlaams Belang voters. The N-VA especially
stands to gain, as it now can position itself more clearly as
the standard-bearer for democratic nationalism in Flanders.
End Comment.

GUTMAN
.