{"id":582216,"date":"2026-05-13T19:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/582216\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:02:11","slug":"belgian-ministers-seek-clarification-over-uk-entry-ban-for-far-right-flemish-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/582216\/","title":{"rendered":"Belgian ministers seek clarification over UK entry ban for far-right Flemish MP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a aria-label=\"View image\" class=\"prezly-slate-image-rollover\" id=\"image-53641042-3a9a-4104-b209-f5637553643a\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.assets.prezly.com\/53641042-3a9a-4104-b209-f5637553643a\/Belgaimage-173731011.jpg\" style=\"max-width:8256px\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"prezly-slate-media prezly-slate-image__media prezly-slate-media--image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Belgaimage-173731011.jpg\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">Belgian foreign minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot (Les Engag\u00e9s) and Flemish Parliament speaker Freya Van den Bossche (Vooruit) have both requested clarification from British authorities after Flemish MP Filip Dewinter (Vlaams Belang) was denied entry to the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">Dewinter had planned to attend the \u201cUnite the West\u201d demonstration in London on Saturday, organised by British far-right activist Tommy Robinson. However, British authorities revoked his ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) visa, stating that his presence \u201cwould not be conducive to the public interest\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belganewsagency.eu\/uk-bars-far-right-flemish-mp-from-entering-the-country\" class=\"prezly-slate-bookmark-card-component__thumbnail\" style=\"background-image:url(&quot;https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/600x600.jpeg&quot;)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"prezly-slate-bookmark-card-component__thumbnailImage\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/600x600.jpeg\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Website preview\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">Speaking in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives on Wednesday, energy minister Jean-Luc Crucke (Les Engag\u00e9s) said<a class=\"styles_link__4YAiu\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belganewsagency.eu\/belgium-and-turkey-seek-closer-trade-ties-during-economic-mission\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"> Pr\u00e9vot, who is currently on a trade mission in Turkey<\/a>, had instructed his cabinet to contact the British embassy in Brussels for an explanation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">According to Crucke, the embassy declined to comment on individual cases. \u201cWe take note of this sovereign decision,\u201d Pr\u00e9vot said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFreedom of expression is something very precious&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">The issue was also discussed during a plenary session of the Flemish Parliament. Vlaams Belang parliamentary leader Chris Janssens called the decision unacceptable, arguing that \u201ca democratically elected member of parliament\u201d had effectively been barred from entering the country because of his views.<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">Van den Bossche said she would invite the British ambassador for talks to clarify the reasons behind the decision. \u201cFreedom of expression is something very precious. It is not in the Constitution for nothing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7 styles_alignLeft__uBPYW\">\u201cIf it turns out to be merely a case of having difficulty with an opinion different from that of the ruler in a friendly country, then that is shocking, and I will also express my deep concern about it,\u201d Van den Bossche added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7\">\u200b#FlandersNewsService | Filip Dewinter pictured at the plenary session of the Flemish Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on 13 May, 2026. \u200b \u200b \u00a9 PHOTO WENER LEROOY<\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7\">Related news<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belganewsagency.eu\/flemish-far-right-politician-worked-on-behalf-of-china-investigation-finds\" class=\"prezly-slate-bookmark-card-component__thumbnail\" style=\"background-image:url(&quot;https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778698931_830_600x600.jpeg&quot;)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"prezly-slate-bookmark-card-component__thumbnailImage\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778698931_830_600x600.jpeg\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Website preview\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"styles_paragraph__6o_o7\">\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Belgian foreign minister Maxime Pr\u00e9vot (Les Engag\u00e9s) and Flemish Parliament speaker Freya Van den Bossche (Vooruit) have both&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-582216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}