Vlaams Belang (VB)
EU RANK: 180 (Tier 5: High Risk)
Vlaams Belang is a radical right‑wing, Flemish nationalist party advocating independence or far‑reaching autonomy for Flanders, strict anti‑immigration policies, hardline law‑and‑order measures and cultural conservatism. It has grown strongly in recent years and now competes with N‑VA for first place in Flemish polls and elections, while remaining excluded from government by a cross‑party cordon sanitaire. VB is central to debates about populism, extremism and democratic resilience in Belgium.
Disinformation and alternative media
Vlaams Belang is deeply embedded in alternative and social‑media ecosystems that circulate polarising, fear‑based and sometimes misleading content about migration, Islam, crime, gender and the EU. EU DisinfoLab and national case studies identify far‑right networks around VB as major domestic hubs for disinformation and hateful narratives, using both official party channels and sympathetic pages to amplify their messages.
The party frames mainstream media as hostile “system press” and encourages followers to rely on its own outlets and social networks for “uncensored truth”, contributing to echo‑chambers in which false or highly distorted stories can spread quickly. In DMI terms, VB’s disinformation and alternative‑media risk is high.
Foreign influence and external alignments
VB belongs to the broader European radical‑right family and has expressed sympathy or alignment with various nationalist and populist movements across Europe, some of which have documented ties to Russian and other authoritarian interests. Open‑source reporting has raised concerns about contacts between European far‑right parties and Russian actors, although concrete operational details vary by party and country.
VB’s hardline anti‑EU rhetoric and scepticism towards some aspects of NATO and Western support for Ukraine risk creating openings for hostile narratives, even when direct, provable financial or organisational links are not fully documented in public sources. This justifies a medium–high foreign‑influence DMI risk: ideological proximity to networks that have interacted with authoritarian regimes, even if the exact degree of operational dependence remains contested.
Media capture, advertising and public service media
VB has no control over federal or regional governments and therefore limited formal power over public broadcasting governance or state advertising, but it exerts significant indirect pressure by campaigning for budget cuts, structural changes and the dismantling of perceived “leftist bias” in VRT and RTBF. Its strategic objective is less to capture public media in the traditional sense and more to delegitimise them in favour of its own alternative channels.
At the same time, VB benefits from platform algorithms and engagement‑driven logics that reward outrage and sensationalism, enabling it to build a powerful social‑media presence that competes with mainstream media for attention. In classic media‑capture terms its structural capacity is medium: limited direct control over institutions but strong ability to reshape the information environment through extra‑institutional channels.
Corruption, litigation and institutional integrity
Historically, VB (and its predecessor Vlaams Blok) has faced legal sanctions related more to racism and hate speech than to financial or corruption offences, including a landmark ruling that led to Vlaams Blok’s dissolution in 2004 for racist incitement. In recent years, VB has not been at the centre of large‑scale corruption scandals comparable to some mainstream parties; its risks lie primarily in its illiberal agenda and willingness to undermine institutional checks and balances rather than in classic graft.
As the party grows and gains more local power, opportunities for patronage and misuse of public resources are likely to increase and require vigilant oversight. For now, the DMI corruption and institutional‑integrity risk is medium: a radical party with limited governing access but a history of legal conflicts over discriminatory practices.
Press freedom, harassment and treatment of media
VB routinely attacks mainstream media as biased, corrupt and part of an elite conspiracy against “the people”, with journalists frequently singled out in speeches and online posts. This rhetoric encourages waves of online harassment and intimidation against individual reporters and outlets perceived as critical, creating a hostile work environment and disincentivising robust scrutiny of the party.
The party also calls for drastic reforms or defunding of public broadcasters and supports alternative outlets that echo its narratives, contributing to a fragmented and polarised media sphere. DMI press‑freedom and harassment risk is high.