Belgian king’s meeting with far-right leader sparks controversy

The leader of Flanders’ far-right separatist party has had an audience with the king of Belgium for the first time in the modern political era. According to Belgian media, 1936 was the last time a far-right leader held an official meeting with the king. King Philippe has been meeting party leaders since Monday, after national elections on Sunday split the country in two. Prosperous Flanders voted right, while Francophone Wallonia moved left, as voters on both sides of the linguistic divide rewarded fringe parties at the expense of the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists. Nearly 19% of Flemish voters chose the far-right Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), a stunning reversal of fortune for a party recently in decline. The invitation to the palace sparked furious debate about how to deal with the resurgent far right. Vlaams Belang had long been excluded from government through a cordon sanitaire, whereby other parties refused to ally with the party. The monarch plays a role in the delicate task of forming Belgian governments, which are always a Flemish-Francophone multi-party coalition. Previous monarchs refused, in 1991 and 2003, to meet Vlaams Blok, the predecessor of Vlaams Belang. The anti-monarchist party turned down an invite in 1978. [...]

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