POLITICS

Jordan Bardella courts Vlaams Belang in Brussels visit

Jordan Bardella used a 12 June Brussels visit to deepen his public link with Vlaams Belang, the Flemish nationalist party that sits with his Rassemblement National in the European Parliament's Patriots for Europe group. The visit matters less as a bilateral party call than as a signal of how Europe's radical-right parties are trying to make Brussels itself a stage for cooperation. Patriots for Europe says Bardella chairs a group of 86 MEPs from 14 delegations, while official European Parliament guidance states that political groups receive agenda-setting, speaking-time, staffing and funding advantages. For Belgium, the optics land on a sensitive fault line: Vlaams Belang remains excluded from federal and Flemish governing coalitions by the cordon sanitaire, but it is integrated into a larger EU parliamentary family led by one of France's most visible opposition figures.

Belgium Impulse Editorial·12 June 2026·3 min read·7 sources

Key signal

This is chiefly a story for Belgian voters, Flemish political parties, Brussels-based EU staff and readers tracking how Belgian politics connects to the European right. Vlaams Belang is not in Belgium's federal government or the Flemish government, but it has a platform inside a European Parliament group chaired by Bardella. That matters for debates on migration, sovereignty, climate policy and EU institutional power, because official European Parliament guidance states that recognised groups receive practical influence inside parliamentary work.

Jordan Bardella (French politician, born in 1995, president of Rassemblement National and chair of Patriots for Europe in the European Parliament) is a leading figure in France's radical right. Vlaams Belang (Flemish nationalist party founded in 2004 after Vlaams Blok was dissolved following a racism ruling) campaigns on Flemish independence, migration restriction and opposition to further EU centralisation. Rassemblement National (French party formerly known as Front National until 2018) is Marine Le Pen's party and Bardella's political base. Patriots for Europe (European Parliament group launched in 2024) brings together parties including Rassemblement National, Vlaams Belang, Fidesz, FPÖ, Vox and Lega. Tom Van Grieken (Vlaams Belang chair since 2014) leads the Belgian party domestically. Gerolf Annemans (Vlaams Belang MEP and former party chair) is listed by Patriots for Europe as its treasurer. Brussels (Belgium's capital and seat of major EU institutions) gives the meeting both Belgian and EU symbolism.

Background

Belgium's cordon sanitaire dates to the early 1990s, after the Vlaams Blok breakthrough in the 1991 election that opponents labelled Black Sunday. In 2004, Belgian courts found Vlaams Blok-linked organisations had breached anti-racism law, and the party dissolved before relaunching as Vlaams Belang. The European link is older: Flemish and French far-right parties have repeatedly tried to coordinate in Brussels and Strasbourg, from Europe of Nations and Freedom in 2015 to Identity and Democracy in 2019 and Patriots for Europe after the 2024 European elections.

The wider picture

The broader geopolitical frame is the contest over the EU's direction after the 2024 elections. Patriots for Europe opposes further EU centralisation and campaigns on borders, sovereignty and energy costs, positions that intersect with debates on migration management, Ukraine policy, industrial competitiveness and Europe's relationship with nationalist governments inside the bloc.

Why now

The immediate trigger is Bardella's 12 June Brussels visit. The timing also fits a longer post-2024 pattern: Patriots for Europe has moved from formation to consolidation, and member parties are using public meetings to show that the alliance is more than a parliamentary label.

OIS Intelligence

What to watch

Watch whether Vlaams Belang and Rassemblement National announce joint campaign themes, whether Patriots for Europe coordinates amendments on migration or climate files, and whether Belgian parties cite the visit in arguments for or against maintaining the cordon sanitaire.

Impact

Regional — The signal lands differently across three levels. In Flanders, it reinforces Vlaams Belang's effort to present itself as part of a normalised European party family despite continued coalition exclusion. In Brussels, the visit turns the EU quarter into the stage for a Belgian domestic legitimacy contest. At EU level, Patriots for Europe says it is the Parliament's third-largest group, giving Vlaams Belang access to a larger transnational structure than it has in Belgian executive politics.

Opposing perspectives

Vlaams Belang / Patriots for Europe
Patriots for Europe frames the alliance as a project for national sovereignty, secure borders and resistance to further EU centralisation. From that perspective, Bardella's Brussels visit is a normal working contact between allied parties that want to convert electoral support into European Parliament coordination.
Belgian cordon sanitaire parties
Belgian parties that maintain the cordon sanitaire would frame the same visit as evidence that Vlaams Belang is seeking legitimacy through transnational allies rather than through coalition acceptability at home. Their strongest argument is that European group membership does not answer the Belgian concerns that produced the exclusion pact.
EU institutional majority parties
Mainstream pro-EU groups would argue that recognised political groups are part of Parliament's democratic architecture, but that agenda access does not make Patriots for Europe decisive while pro-European groups still hold broader majorities on most legislative files.