Gerolf Emma Jozef Annemans (born 8 November 1958) is a Belgian lawyer,

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and politician of the

Flemish nationalist The Flemish Movement (, ) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemish cultu ...

party

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

(VB) and formerly of its predecessor, the

Vlaams Blok Vlaams Blok (, VB; ) was the name of a Belgian far-right and secessionist political party with an anti-immigration platform.Erk, 2005, pp. 493-502. Its ideologies embraced Flemish nationalism, calling for the independence of Flanders. The part ...

. He has been a

member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

since 2014, and a city councilor in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

since 2000. He served as a member of the Chamber of Representatives from 1987 to 2014, and as a city councilor in

Brasschaat Brasschaat () is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Brasschaat proper. In November 2006, Brasschaat won the LivCom-Award 20 ...

from 1994 to 2000. He was the former leader of the VB from 2012 to 2014, and

led A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

the Vlaams Blok and VB

parliamentary groups A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...

from 1991 to 2013.

Early political career

Youth and initial career

Annemans studied law at the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

(UA) and graduated in 1982. He held a seat on the council of the university's law faculty and the UA governing and executive boards. He was also the chief editor of the UA-newspaper and presidium member of ''Sofia,'' the guild of the Antwerp law students. During his academic studies from 1980 to 1981, Annemans was head of the editorial staff of the students' magazine ''Tegenstroom,'' the club publication of the

Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (KVHV) or the Catholic Flemish Students' Association is a political student society which concerns Flemish nationalism and conservatism. It accepts male and female members and has chapters in Ghent, Leuven, Ant ...

(Flemish Catholic Students' Society, KVHV) society. After graduating he also contributed to several columns in the pro-Flemish conservative weekly newspaper ''

't Pallieterke ''t Pallieterke'' is a satirical Flemish weekly magazine. It is part of the Flemish movement and advocates Flemish independence. It is largely conservative in its editing. History and profile ''t Pallieterke'' was founded in 1945 by , an Antwerp ...

.'' Annemans was briefly promoted to a chief editing position at t Pallieterke'' but eventually opted for a career in politics.

Vlaams Blok / Vlaams Belang

In 1985, Gerolf Annemans became a public activist of the Vlaams Blok (renamed Vlaams Belang on 14 November 2004), as he was offered the place of first substitute on the electoral list for the

Belgian federal parliament The Federal Parliament (; ; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). It sits in the Palace of the Nation in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels ...

in the constituency of

. From 1987 onwards, he had a seat in that assembly, and thus was the longest established Vlaams Belang MP. Until 2013, he chaired the Vlaams Belang group. On his watch the party grew from a two member group to Belgium's third largest political faction, counting 18 members (after the

2003 Belgian federal election Federal elections were held in Belgium on 18 May 2003, the first under a new electoral code. One of the novelties was an electoral threshold of 5, which has cost many seats to the N-VA and the Green parties, Ecolo and Agalev. The Belgian Soci ...

). Furthermore, Annemans is a longstanding member of the city council of Antwerp, a prominent on the Vlaams Belang party board and former director of the Vlaams Belang political research department.

A quarter-century of parliamentary opposition

In his parliamentary work and speeches, Annemans often mentions "the Belgian disease" (the inability of

Flemings Flemish people or Flemings ( ) are a Germanic ethnic group native to Flanders, Belgium, who speak Flemish Dutch. Flemish people make up the majority of Belgians, at about 60%. ''Flemish'' was historically a geographical term, as all inhabita ...

and

Walloons Walloons ( ; ; ) are a Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance ethnic group native to Wallonia and the immediate adjacent regions of Flanders, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Walloons primarily speak ''langues d'oïl'' such as B ...

yet to rule together efficiently). The cordon sanitaire (the unwritten agreement among all other parties not to work together with Vlaams Belang, irrespective of the number of its elected representatives) is viewed by Annemans as a problem that concerns

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

in its entirety, due to his belief that it has been imposed on Flemish politics by an alliance of Francophone parties and their Flemish left-wing collaborators. Annemans view the party as an alternative to the moderate Flemish-regionalist

N-VA The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish nationalist, conservative political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-nationalist People's Union (VU). The N-VA is a regionalist an ...

, which, in his view, got entirely absorbed by Belgian power politics. Recently, Annemans did not only present himself as a member of the

Flemish Movement The Flemish Movement (, ) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgium, Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought to promote Flemis ...

, but also as a true republican. In doing so, he advocates thorough social reform through

Flemish independence Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

, as well as through a far-reaching transformation of the EU on the basis of the

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

principle.

Member of investigative and persecutive commissions

In his crusade against what he diagnoses as the "Belgian disease" (in this sense the political-administrative tangle facilitating inefficiency and corruption), he joined several parliamentary commissions for the investigation of scandals and embezzlements. In that capacity, Annemans took part in the

Dutroux Marc Paul Alain Dutroux (; born 6 November 1956) is a Belgian convicted serial killer, serial rapist, and child molester. Initially convicted for the abduction and rape of five young girls in 1989, Dutroux was released on parole after just thr ...

commission (1996), the commission investigating the " Brabant massacres" (also 1996), the Dioxin affair commission (1999), the Sabena commission (2001), and the two commissions concerning the

Fortis Fortis may refer to: Business * Fortis (Swiss watchmaker), a Swiss watch company * Fortis Films, an American film and television production company founded by actress and producer Sandra Bullock * Fortis Healthcare, a chain of hospitals in ...

affair (2009).

Annemans and Lijst Dedecker

After the federal elections of 10 June 2007, Annemans warned his partisans on his weblog for underestimation of the "Dedecker factor". He did not believe that the then successful Lijst Dedecker (a one man-party founded and presided by

Jean-Marie Dedecker Jean-Marie Louis Dedecker (born 13 June 1952) is a Belgian politician. In 1999 and 2003, Dedecker was directly elected to the Belgian Senate for the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). In 2004, he ran for a seat in the Flemish Parliament, a ...

) would be a temporary hype such as the former party

ROSSEM Radical Reformists and Social Fighters for a Fairer Society (, ROSSEM) was a Belgian libertarian political party founded in 1991 by the Flemish businessman and writer Jean-Pierre Van Rossem. There was an active French-speaking section in the Wa ...

had been. According to Annemans, Dedecker had "broken the traditional monopoly of VB as the

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

, the big mouth and

Lucky Luke ''Lucky Luke'' is a Western (genre), Western bande dessinée, comic album series created by Belgian cartoonist Morris (cartoonist), Morris in 1946. Morris wrote and drew the series single-handedly until 1955, after which he started collaborati ...

which all others fear." Moreover, the Belgian king Albert II received Jean-Marie Dedecker for his consultations following the elections, and not the then VB party chairman

Frank Vanhecke Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke (born 30 May 1959) is a Belgian politician. Vanhecke started his career in Belgian politics as a student by joining the Jong Studentenverbond and later the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging. He gave up his ...

. In a political talk show Annemans called it an error to exclude cooperation with Lijst Dedecker.

The orderly split-up of Belgium

In 2010, Annemans announced the publication of a new book in which he would outline a blueprint for the "active preparation of Flemish independence." The book called for Flemish independence and detailed how that would be put into effect. The fourth print of the book got outlawed in 2012 by the

commercial court Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. In the US, they are trial courts that primarily or ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. The judge ruled that the publication would have violated the rights of the British telecommunications provider O2, because the chemical symbol for

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

(also the company's logo) figures on its cover. Furthermore, the book inspired Annemans to conceive two manifestoes that gave more depth to the Vlaams Belang platform: the Hoofdstad-Manifest on Brussels (spring 2013), and the Europa-Manifest on the EU (autumn 2013).

Party chairman

On 16 December 2012, Annemans was elected chairman of the Vlaams Belang. He succeeded Bruno Valkeniers after poor election results, where the party had lost over two-thirds of its electorate in its traditional stronghold Antwerp. Annemans' chairmanship was confirmed in a secret ballot by a large majority of 92% of party members. The fresh VB foreman championed a strict migration policy and a revision of EU cooperation, but mostly focused on Flemish independence.

Member of the European Parliament

For the 2014 European elections, Annemans was the leading candidate of Vlaams Belang for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and was elected as the sole MEP of his party. Annemans would resign as party leader soon after taking office as MEP due to poor election results in the

2014 Belgian federal election 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 hel ...

, where VB lost 75% of its seats. In his first term as a MEP, Annemans helped form the

Europe of Nations and Freedom Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF; , ENL) was a far-right Political groups of the European Parliament, political group that operated in the European Parliament between 2015 and 2019. It was composed of 37 MEPs and only existed during the Eighth ...

group, where he would serve as treasurer from 2015 to 2017. Throughout his first term, Annemans was a strong critic of mass immigration, saying that self interest should be at the centre of foreign policy. In the 2019 European elections, Annemans would lead the Vlaams Belang list to come in second, only behind the New Flemish Alliance. Annemans would move to the new

Identity and Democracy Identity and Democracy (ID; ) was a political group of the European Parliament during the Ninth European Parliament term, launched on 13 June 2019. It comprised Far right politics, far-right, Right-wing populism, right-wing populist, Euroscept ...

group. For the

2024 European elections The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

, Annemans decided not to be list leader. He was placed third on the list as Vlaams Belang won the election. Annemans would serve as treasurer of the new

Patriots for Europe Patriots for Europe (PfE or Patriots) is a right-wing to far-right sovereigntist political group, formed as the third-largest group ahead of the tenth European Parliament. The group includes all but one member from the Identity and Democracy g ...

group.

Private life

Gerolf Annemans is married and has three children.

References

External links