Bart Claes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Flemish parliament | |
| Assumed office 2019 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bart Claes 8 April 1989 Mechelen, Belgium |
| Political party | Vlaams Belang (2014–present) |
| Other political affiliations | N-VA (until 2014) |
| Alma mater | University of Antwerp University of Ghent |
Bart Claes (born 8 April 1989) is a Belgian politician who has been a member of the Flemish parliament for the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang party since 2019.
Claes was born in Mechelen and grew up in Rumst. His father Luc Claes was a councilor for the New Flemish Alliance and the alderman in Rumst. He studied law at the University of Antwerp and the University of Ghent. During his studies Claes was a member of the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging and the New Flemish Alliance party. [1] In 2014 he left the N-VA due to disagreeing with the course of the party and joined Vlaams Belang. After graduating, Claes worked for Katoen Natie. [2]
From 2016 to 2020, Claes was chairman of the Vlaams Belang Jongeren. In 2019, Claes was elected as a member of the Flemish Parliament for the Antwerp region. [3] [4] During the 2019 Belgian federal election, Claes managed the VB's election campaign and claimed that he looked to both the Brexit and Donald Trump presidential campaigns as examples of how to target voters. [5]
In 2020, Claes received criticism from the Flemish Groen! party after sharing a post on Twitter referring to transgender Belgian Minister Petra De Sutter as "the personification of cultural Marxism." Flemish Parliament speaker Liesbeth Homans described Claes' tweet as "reprehensible" but said she defended his right to freedom of expression. Claes later claimed his remark was partially taken out of context. [6]
Vlaams Blok was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. The party originated from split within the Volksunie (VU) party after the right-wing separatist and national conservative wing became disgruntled with the compromise of accepting Belgian federalism over Flemish interests, and what they saw as the VU's move to the left. The former VU members created the Flemish National Party (VNP) and the Flemish People's Party (VVP) which formed an electoral alliance called Vlaams Blok in 1978, before merging to create Vlaams Blok as a political party in 1979. Vlaams Blok was the most notable militant right wing of the Flemish movement and its track record in the Flemish and Belgian parliament elections was strong, making it one of the most successful nationalist parties in Western Europe and it ultimately surpassed the People's Union in support. The party initially focused solely on the issues of Flemish autonomy and political freedom, which remained its core philosophy, but subsequently gained wider public support through broadening its campaigns to include immigration and law-and-order themes.
The New Flemish Alliance is a Flemish nationalist and conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning fraction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU).
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter is a Belgian politician, journalist and commentator. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party.
Vlaams Belang is a Flemish nationalist, and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered to be on the political far-right.
Gerolf Emma Jozef Annemans is a Belgian lawyer, journalist and politician of the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB) and formerly of its predecessor, the Vlaams Blok. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014, and a city councilor in Antwerp since 2000. He served as a member of the Chamber of Representatives from 1987 to 2014, and as a city councilor in Brasschaat from 1994 to 2000. He was the former leader of the VB from 2012 to 2014, and led the Vlaams Blok and VB parliamentary groups from 1991 to 2013.
VLOTT is a minor Belgian right-wing liberal or fortuynist political party. Its title, VLOTT, is an acronym for "Flemish, Liberal, Independent, Tolerant, Transparent". It was founded on 23 November 2005 by ex-Open VLD member Hugo Coveliers. It participated in a list-cartel with the Vlaams Belang in the October 2006 Antwerp municipal elections and in selected provincial, municipal and district elections elsewhere in Flanders. Despite the popularity of their founder in Antwerp the shared effort of the cartel-partners did only result in a small 0.5 percent win, with no extra seat in the city-council. In 2007, VLOTT did not participate in the general elections, but their candidates appeared as independents on the Vlaams Belang ballots. Only founder Hugo Coveliers was elected to the Belgian Senate. After Coveliers withdrawal from active politics early 2012 Vlaams Belang stopped its cooperation with the party.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Belgium are seen as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. In 2021, ILGA-Europe ranked Belgium as second in the European Union for LGBT rights protection, behind Malta.
Hans Van Themsche is a Belgian student who, on 11 March, 2006, shot three people, killing two and severely injuring another, before being shot by police and incapacitated. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2008.
The 0110 concerts, held on October 1, 2006 in Antwerp, Brussels, Charleroi and Ghent, were organised by dEUS frontman Tom Barman, Arno Hintjens and Frederik Sioen to promote tolerance in Belgian society, and "against Vlaams Belang, extremism and gratuitous violence".
Libertarian, Direct, Democratic is a conservative-liberal, libertarian, right-wing populist Flemish political party in Belgium.
Bart Albert Liliane De Wever is a Belgian politician. Since 2004, De Wever has been the leader of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a political party advocating for the independence of Flanders. He is also a member of the Chamber of Representatives. De Wever played a prominent role in the 2007 Belgian government formation and presided over his party's victory in the 2010 federal elections when N-VA became the largest party in both Flanders and in Belgium as a whole.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 25 May 2014. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected, whereas the Senate was no longer directly elected following the 2011–2012 state reform. These were the first elections held under King Philippe's reign.
Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV) or the Catholic Flemish Students' Union is a political student society which concerns Flemish nationalism and conservatism. It accepts male and female members and has chapters in Ghent, Leuven, Antwerp, Brussels, Aalst and Sint-Katelijne-Waver. Previously KVHV had chapters in Kortrijk, Ostend, and Mechelen.
Tom Jozef Irène Van Grieken is a Belgian politician and author who has served as leader of Vlaams Belang since October 2014.
The Identity and Democracy Party, abbreviated to ID Party and formerly known as the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom (MENF), is an alliance of nationalist, right-wing populist and eurosceptic European political parties founded in 2014. The party has been described as both right-wing and far-right. Its political group in the European Parliament was Europe of Nations and Freedom, which was succeeded in 2019 by Identity and Democracy.
Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019, alongside the country's European and regional elections. All 150 members of the Chamber of Representatives were elected from eleven multi-member constituencies.
Vlaams Belang Jongeren is the youth wing of the Vlaams Belang party. Until the conviction of the Vlaams Blok in 2004, the organisation was called Vlaams Blok Jongeren. When the party changed its name, so did the youth wing. The current chairman of VBJ is Filip Brusselmans, he replaced Bart Claes in 2020.
The 2019 Belgian regional elections took place on Sunday 26 May, the same day as the 2019 European Parliament election as well as the Belgian federal election.
Chris Janssens is a Flemish politician for Vlaams Belang, a member of the Flemish Parliament and the current chairman of the VB's faction in the Flemish Parliament. He is also the spokesman for the party in the Flemish region.