“Old-fashioned Communism”, “Dictatorship”… The decision of the Brussels authorities to stop a controversial meeting of representatives of the nationalist right, in which the French Éric Zemmour and the Briton Nigel Farage participated, triggered a chorus of criticism a few weeks before the European elections.
The decision was strongly denounced inside the room where several hundred people gathered, including many nationalist and conservative Eurosceptic MEPs. “We are really in the register of old-fashioned communism, basically if you don't agree with me you must be banned,” castigated Nigel Farage, champion of Brexit.
“Guarantee public safety”
After already two deprogrammings in recent days in places supposed to host the event, the “National Conservatism Conference” (NatCon) was banned in a third room, Tuesday at midday, in the Brussels commune of Saint-Josse. The mayor of Saint-Josse, Emir Kir, announced on Facebook that he had issued a ban “to guarantee public safety”. “The extreme right is not welcome,” added the elected official.
I issued an order from the Mayor to ban the “National Conservatism Conference” event to guarantee the...
Published by Emir Kir on Tuesday April 16, 2024
Nigel Farage was, along with former British minister Suella Braverman, among the speakers on the first of the two days planned for this meeting. Also expected to take the podium were Éric Zemmour, president of the Reconquest party! and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced as headliner on Wednesday.
Around 3:30 p.m., surrounded by cameras, the French polemicist appeared in front of the door of the conference room, to which the police blocked his access, before denouncing a “dictatorship”. A cordon of law enforcement agents blocked the entrance but the authorities ultimately gave up demanding the departure of the participants already inside.
Viktor Orban, for his part, deplored an attack on freedom of expression. “The last time they wanted to silence me by sending the police was in 1988 with the Communists,” reacted the Hungarian nationalist leader on X, in allusion to the Soviet era.
Other European leaders reacted, with British Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deeming the authorities' decision to order the meeting to end "extremely worrying". His Belgian counterpart Alexander De Croo described it as “unacceptable”.
" Caught short "
A demonstration called by a collective of associations called “Antifascist Coordination of Belgium” was announced for the end of the day in front of the room. “We are taking all necessary operational measures to avoid any disturbance of public order on public roads,” said a spokesperson for the local police.
The “NatCon” was initially to be organized in a reception room in the European district located in the municipality of Brussels, but the idea was abandoned on Friday by the organizers after the reluctance expressed by Mayor Philippe Close. A second cancellation was announced on Monday by the neighboring town of Etterbeek, which argued that the Sofitel hotel had been misinformed about the nature of the event.
Emir Kir, for his part, said he was “taken by surprise” when the meeting was finally moved to Saint-Josse, not far from the European district, by the pro-Orban think tank Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), co-organizer of the event.
Less than two months before the renewal of the European Parliament (by a vote in the 27 member countries scheduled between June 6 and 9), this nationalist and eurosceptic gathering takes place against a backdrop of the growing influence of this political family in many European states .