Filip Dewinter

Dewinter published a photograph taken at a colleague's birthday celebration in which he posed with a Verdinaso flag, associated with an interwar movement linked to fascism and antisemitism. The caption included 'Onze eer is trouw', which could be read as a reference to the SS motto 'Meine Ehre heißt Treue'. The Forum of Jewish Organisations expressed outrage, and the matter was raised at Antwerp City Council.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

Press investigations revealed that Dewinter had received approximately €25,000 between 2015 and 2017 from Changchun Shao, an official of Chinese associations described by Western intelligence services as an influence agent and expelled from Belgium. Dewinter organised or facilitated meetings, trips and seminars favourable to Beijing and had been named as an adviser to an organisation linked to the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2024, these elements fuelled suspicions of lobbying for the Chinese Communist Party amid wider investigations into foreign interference.

State of the evidence

Allegations

Attribution

Directly implicated

Dewinter helped popularise the term 'omvolking' in Flanders, using it in his 'Verzetsgids tegen islamisering' and subsequently publishing a book entitled Omvolking. De grote vervanging. He also advocated this demographic interpretation in radical-right media. The concept is commonly associated with the 'great replacement' theory and has been criticised as a conspiratorial or ethnically framed narrative.

State of the evidence

Reported by the press

Attribution

Directly implicated

Dewinter maintained close contacts with Russian officials: he met Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin in 2014, spoke at the Duma in 2015 in defence of Crimea's annexation, and regularly supported Moscow until shortly before the invasion of Ukraine. After February 2022, he said he had been wrong about Vladimir Putin and described the war of aggression as inexcusable, while remaining critical of arms deliveries and certain sanctions.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

In March 2015, Dewinter visited Damascus at the invitation of the Syrian regime, met Bashar al-Assad and described him as a 'courageous and impressive' man, advocating Western cooperation with his government against Islamic State. The visit took place without prior approval from the Vlaams Belang president and caused internal controversy. In 2017, Dewinter returned to Syria with a party delegation, this time authorised by Tom Van Grieken; the trip was paid for by the Syrian regime.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Dewinter spoke at a Golden Dawn rally in Greece alongside two Vlaams Belang colleagues. The Greek party was widely described as neo-Nazi. The Vlaams Belang executive publicly distanced itself, found that Dewinter had caused serious damage to the party, reprimanded those involved and prohibited them from maintaining foreign political contacts without prior authorisation.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Anti-racism organisations Kif Kif and MRAX filed a complaint against Dewinter alleging incitement to hatred and racial discrimination following an interview in which, according to the complainants, he portrayed Muslims, Islam and Muslim organisations as centres of anti-democratic, anti-Western, anti-Jewish and terrorist movements. They sought, among other measures, the lifting of his parliamentary immunity.

Attribution

Personally implicated

Filip Dewinter devised and presented the 1992 programme 'Immigratie: de oplossingen. 70 voorstellen ter oplossing van het vreemdelingenprobleem'. It proposed, among other measures, a policy of returning immigrants, strict immigration restrictions and measures affecting the rights and recognition of Islam. The text became one of the most controversial documents in Vlaams Blok's history and was criticised as incompatible with European principles of non-discrimination and human rights. A revised version was published in 1996.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated