Ecolo
EU RANK: 6 (Tier 1: Top Performance)
Ecolo is a francophone Green party active in Wallonia and Brussels, positioned on the progressive, environmentalist and pro‑European left. In the 2024 federal election it lost ground compared to its 2019 high but remains represented in the federal parliament and regional institutions, operating mainly as a mid‑sized opposition and coalition party in French‑speaking Belgium. It has previously participated in federal and regional governments and remains an important actor in climate, social and institutional debates.
Disinformation and alternative media
Ecolo relies on mainstream media, its own official channels and social networks rather than on a structured partisan media ecosystem. Its communications focus on climate policies, social justice, migration and anti‑discrimination, with an emphasis on fact‑based framing and pro‑EU positions. Studies of the Belgian disinformation landscape identify far‑right and anti‑system networks (around parties such as Vlaams Belang and certain fringe actors) as the main domestic drivers of mis‑ and disinformation rather than Ecolo or other Green and social‑democratic parties.
There has been controversy around some of Ecolo’s alliances with civil‑society organisations, for instance criticism over perceived proximity to a controversial Islamophobia‑monitoring group, which opponents portray as problematic. However, available evidence does not show that Ecolo systematically disseminates fabricated content or coordinates large‑scale disinformation campaigns; its risk lies more in potential reputational exposure through partners than in party‑run deceptive media. In DMI terms this corresponds to a low disinformation/alternative‑media risk.
Foreign influence and external alignments
Ecolo is a firmly pro‑EU, pro‑NATO (though critical on some security issues) and multilateralist party, integrated into the European Greens. Its foreign‑policy positions support strong European action on climate change, human rights and rule‑of‑law, including sanctions and robust responses to authoritarian regimes’ abuses and disinformation activities.
Belgian and EU overviews of foreign information manipulation do not single out Ecolo as a conduit for hostile state influence. Instead, Belgian state assessments and EU DisinfoLab focus on Russian and, to a lesser extent, other authoritarian‑linked networks that predominantly intersect with far‑right and fringe groups rather than with mainstream Green parties. The DMI foreign‑influence risk for Ecolo is therefore low.
Media capture, advertising and public service media
Belgium’s media market is highly concentrated around a small number of private groups and public broadcasters in each language community, but our funding analysis does not show Ecolo operating large‑scale clientelistic advertising schemes. The party controls relatively modest public budgets when in office and tends to prioritise transparency, pluralism and support for independent journalism in its programmes.
Ecolo generally supports robust, independent public service media in the RTBF sphere and has criticised attempts by parties on the right to politicise or defund public broadcasters. While all governing parties in Belgium participate to some extent in political appointments and negotiations around media regulation, Ecolo’s structural capacity for media capture is comparatively limited, and its stated preferences go in the direction of stronger safeguards rather than capture. In DMI terms this suggests a low–medium media‑capture risk score.
Corruption, litigation and institutional integrity
Belgium has seen recurring concerns around party patronage, public contracts and local clientelism, but major federal‑level scandals over the last decade have centred more on traditional big parties and local political machines than on Ecolo. Our funding analysis describes Ecolo’s finances as relatively transparent by Belgian standards, with a significant share of public funding and declared donations and no large corporate media holdings.
There have been local controversies and minor cases involving Green officials (for example on expense management or local governance), but no large‑scale corruption affairs comparable to the major scandals involving some other Belgian parties. DMI integrity risk for Ecolo is therefore low–medium: the party operates in the same patronage‑prone environment but has not been at the centre of systemic corruption cases.
Press freedom, harassment and treatment of media
Ecolo positions itself publicly as a defender of press freedom, pluralism and strong public service media as a bulwark against far‑right attacks. It regularly criticises hate campaigns targeting journalists and supports European and national instruments to protect media from political interference and SLAPPs.
There is no evidence of Ecolo orchestrating harassment of journalists or advocating punitive measures against critical outlets; its media criticism tends to focus on calls for more diverse representation and better coverage of climate and social issues rather than on delegitimising mainstream media as “enemies”. Within the DMI framework, the party’s press‑freedom and harassment risk is low.