speak

Ultranationalist Congress

The second day of the far-right National Conservatism Conference can still go ahead today. The Council of State has decided this. On Tuesday, Mayor of Saint Joost Emir Kir tried to ban the meeting, but it blew up in his face.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban will speak today at the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon), a two-day far-right conference. Ultranationalists, religious and the far right gather around the central theme of ‘preserving the nation state in Europe’. The Council of State decided last night that the second day of the congress can continue. This is confirmed by lawyer Wouter Vaassen (Courtside.law), who initiated the procedure.

NatCon was initially scheduled to take place in a venue in Brussels city, but the operator canceled the event when he found out what the conference would be about. The organization also failed at a venue in Etterbeek, and eventually ended up in Sint-Joost-ten-Noode. That didn’t go down well with Mayor Emir Kir.

“Racists are not welcome in Brussels, not in Etterbeek, nor in Sint-Joost,” he wrote on Tuesday on X. He sent the police to the conference with the intention of shutting down the event “immediately”. Kir argued this by referring to advice from his police chief and from the Coordination Body for Threat Analysis (Ocad).

The Council of State decided last night to suspend Kir’s ban. “The threat to public order appears to be deduced solely from the reactions that its organization could arouse among opponents,” his judgment said. The principle of proportionality, among other things, requires “that measures are taken to curb demonstrations on public roads, rather than banning meetings in a closed space”.

The event can therefore continue today. By the way, the conference was not stopped yesterday either. The police took up positions outside the hall and did not allow anyone in or out – including the French radical right-wing politician Éric Zemmour, who stood in front of closed doors. Inside, everything went on as planned.

And Kir, he immediately felt a wave of indignation. From Filip Dewinter (Vlaams Belang) to Zemmour to the British Nigel Farage and Viktor Orban: they all screamed bloody murder about what they call censorship. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) also joined the discussion. On X he called the action “unacceptable”.

“Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy, but it can never override the Belgian Constitution. Since 1830, it has guaranteed freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly. Banning political gatherings is unconstitutional. Point.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also responded, reports the British newspaper The Guardian. “It is indisputable that the cancellation of events is harmful to freedom of expression and democracy. It is very clear that free debate and the exchange of ideas are essential. Even when you disagree with those ideas.”