The ("New-Flemish Alliance") is a Flemish
Center-right political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. It is a
Separatist movement that strives for peaceful
Secession of
Flanders from
Belgium . The party is also known for fighting for laws that force the Francophones living in Flanders to learn Dutch, Flanders' sole official language.
In 2001, the and N-VA, the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie. This was the result of internal struggles between the right-wing base and the left-wing leadership. The chairman of the Volksunie,
Geert Bourgeois , won a referendum among the members with 47% of the votes. The leftist/social-democratic group of
Bert Anciaux got 22% of the votes. 31% voted against a split. Since no group got over 50%, the name ''Volksunie'' couldn't be in use any longer.
The N-VA has entered into an election cartel with the
CD&V for the elections in 2004, and did so again for the 2007 elections. The cartel was briefly broken when
Jean-Marie Dedecker entered the N-VA on behalf of the party executive. However, the party congress did not put Dedecker on the election list, instead preferring to continue the cartel with CD&V. Dedecker saw this as a vote of no confidence, and left the party after only 10 days, later forming his own party,
List Dedecker . Deputy leader Brepoels, who supported Dedecker, stepped down from the party board afterwards.
The Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (New-Flemish Alliance - N-VA) is a young political party, founded in the autumn of 2001. Being one of the continuators of the Volksunie (1954-2001), it is, however, based on an established political tradition. The N-VA works towards the same goal as its predecessor: to shape a radical Flemish-nationalism in a contemporary way.
In the political sphere, the N-VA pleads for a Flemish republic, member state of a democratic European confederation. The party believes that the challenges of the 21st century can best be answered from strong communities on the one hand and from a well developed international co-operation on the other hand.
The N-VA has members across the political spectrum, but as a whole it is considered center-right. It is seen as a democratic alternative to the far right
Vlaams Belang . Its motives for secession are mainly pragmatic and rational.
At the
Federal Elections in 2003 N-VA got 3.1% of the votes, but only one seat in the federal parliament. In February
2004 they formed an alliance (cartel) with the
CD&V ("Christian Democratic and Flemish"). The cartel won the elections for the Flemish parliament. The N-VA received a total of 6 seats.
- Geert Bourgeois , Flemish Minister for Administrative Affairs, Foreign Policy, Media and Tourism
