Tom Van Grieken

Vlaams Belang published a doctored image showing Genk mayor Wim Dries shaking hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outside a mosque, amid a dispute over the recognition of mosques. Dries filed a complaint, stating that the montage falsely associated him with extremism. Police questioned Van Grieken in August 2025. He refused to remove the post, saying that he supported it '100%'.

State of the evidence

Documented

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Personally implicated

Van Grieken and other Vlaams Belang figures used the Dutch term 'omvolking' when discussing statistics on the origins of Belgium's population. In January 2024, Van Grieken again used it in his New Year's address, referring to a 'real omvolking', while denying the existence of an organised conspiracy. The term is highly controversial because of its historical association with 'great replacement' theories and far-right identitarian narratives.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

During the 2024 campaign, Van Grieken reiterated that the state should not recognise gender as a social construct and that 'a man is a man and a woman is a woman'. Exchanges particularly targeted transgender Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter and were denounced as hurtful and stigmatising. Following the election, Van Grieken acknowledged that he had lost some restraint, said he had not intended to make the debate a personal attack on De Sutter and apologised.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

According to the AdLens project reported by VRT NWS, Tom Van Grieken's pages spent €398,028 on Meta/Google advertisements during the four months preceding the 9 June 2024 elections, far more than any other Belgian politician. Vlaams Belang was also the largest online spender, fuelling debate over advertising saturation, polarisation and the role of public party funding in digital campaigns.

State of the evidence

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Directly implicated

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Van Grieken acknowledged that his party had previously harboured sympathy for Vladimir Putin and that Vlaams Belang had thought he might be an ally against multiculturalism. He said the party had been 'very wrong', described Putin as a dictator committing atrocities and invited members who continued to admire him to leave. This reversal renewed debate about earlier connections between party figures and Moscow.

State of the evidence

Admitted by the person

Attribution

Direct responsibility

Two Antwerp mosques filed a complaint against Vlaams Belang and Van Grieken alleging incitement to hatred and discrimination following the publication of images of worshippers queuing on Eid al-Adha, accompanied by a message claiming that this was the 'real reason' the entire province of Antwerp was being punished with health restrictions. Mosque officials stated that COVID rules had been followed and that the post made them scapegoats.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Tom Van Grieken selected Dries Van Langenhove, founder of Schild & Vrienden, as an independent lead candidate for Vlaams Belang in Flemish Brabant in 2019. The decision followed Pano's revelations of racist and discriminatory content in groups linked to Schild & Vrienden, while Van Langenhove was the subject of a criminal investigation. Van Grieken described him as a 'communications talent', turning the recruitment into a controversy over the party's normalisation strategy.

State of the evidence

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Political responsibility

In a De Tijd interview after the 2019 elections, Van Grieken said that a private individual renting out accommodation should be able to discriminate in selecting a tenant, distinguishing this private freedom from the state's duty of neutrality. The interview set out a position directly at odds with the legal principle prohibiting housing discrimination.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated