After it reorganized itself as Vlaams Belang, it continued to espouse the core philosophy of its predecessor by campaigning on a separatist[17][18] and Flemish nationalist platform.

It also supports the maintenance of Flemish cultural identity, it opposes multiculturalism, and it advocates the imposition of tougher law & order policies.

Under the current leadership of Tom Van Grieken, the VB has begun to regain popular support and as a result, it made a comeback during the 2019 federal elections.

The ideology of the Vlaams Blok started out with its radical nationalist rejection of the People's Union compromise on the Flemish autonomy issue, and later increasingly focused on immigration and security, exploitation of political scandals, and defense of traditional values.

[29] In Belgium in 2001, Roeland Raes, the ideologue and vice-president of Vlaams Blok, gave an interview to Dutch TV where he cast doubt over the number of Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

The interview was met with uproar within the party with the VB's leadership immediately distancing themselves from Raes and holding an emergency meeting on whether to expel him.

According to political scientist Cas Mudde, the Vlaams Blok had campaigned on heavy anti-immigration themes but had positioned itself against antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

[31] Upon complaints filed by the governmental Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism and the Dutch-speaking Human Rights League in Belgium, in 2001 three non-profit organisations that in effect constituted the core of the Vlaams Blok party were charged with violation of the Law on Racism and xenophobia by assisting "a group or organisation that clearly and repeatedly commits discrimination or segregation," here the political party.

[32] In November that year, the Court of Cassation rejected their last appeal to annul the verdict; the delay had allowed using the name Vlaams Blok for election candidacy.

This situation was however altered slightly with the emergence of the smaller right-wing party List Dedecker (founded in 2007), which did not joined in on the agreement and argued that the cordon was ineffective.

[citation needed] The party polled second place in the Flemish region with 18.6% of the overall vote, increasing its number of MPs in the Chamber of Representatives to 18 (its best result since 2007).

[58][59] The policies of the Vlaams Belang focus mainly on the issues of Flemish independence, opposition to multiculturalism, and defence of traditional Western values.

The party seeks a peaceful secession of Flanders from Belgium, citing in its program the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway (1905), Czechoslovakia (1992), and the independence of Montenegro (2006) as examples that such would be possible.

Other stated reasons given for secessionism are the financial transfers from Flanders to the capital of Brussels and to Wallonia (Belgium's other half), which Vlaams Belang considers to be unjustified.

[64] Members of Vlaams Belang argue that the French speaking Socialist Party de facto rules Belgium and does not represent the interests of Flemish voters.

[61] In contrast to its Vlaams Blok predecessor, the VB has downplayed and placed less emphasis on ethnonationalism in recent years when discussing Flemish national identity.

After updating its platform, the party simply called for the repatriation of those immigrants who "reject, deny or combat" Flemish culture as well as certain European values, including freedom of expression and equality between men and women.

[72] The former Vlaams Blok was, according to political scientist Cas Mudde, only very rarely accused of anti-Semitism – and even then, it was strongly condemned by the party leadership.

[73] Accused of being anti-Muslim,[74][75] the party favors the expulsion of all who opposed Western values and after the 2016 Brussels bombings, called for closed borders and a temporary stop to immigration.

"[80] Initially, members of Belgium's Jewish community boycotted the party due to the stigma of wartime collaborationism associated with Flemish nationalism and the fact the VB's Vlaams Blok predecessor contained founders who had collaborated with the Nazis.

However, in Antwerp sections of the city's large Jewish community now actively support the party, as they feel threatened by the new wave of anti-Semitism from the growing Muslim population.

[88][89] According to Vlaams Belang abortion should only be possible when the woman's life is in danger, when the unborn child is not viable and in the case of rape.

Citing "a massive overrepresentation of immigrants in crime statistics," the party also wants to deport criminal and illegal foreigners, as well as seeking to "combat Islamic terror threat.

[103] Like its predecessor, Vlaams Belang has been accused of racism and for promoting hostility and xenophobia by both French and Dutch speaking political opponents and media in Belgium.

However, history professor Eric Defoort has stated the use of this terminology creates "a distorted image of their antagonist, whom they can then scold with missionary zeal.

and sp.a, called on the Belgian Council of State to withdraw all allocation of parliamentary money to the party, claiming statements and policies proposed by its leadership violated the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Vlaams Belang underlined that Ali supposedly made the statement on the occasion of a debate organised by the left-liberal think tank Liberales, whose president is Dirk Verhofstadt who is known for regularly publishing accusations against the party.

[119] In September 2024, the party sparked controversy by putting Roeland Raes who had previously been convicted of Holocaust denial as one of its candidates in the upcoming municipal elections before removing his candidacy the following day.

[84][122] In October 2007, the party hosted the international counter-jihad conference in the European and Flemish Parliaments in Brussels together with Edward "Ned" May of the blog Gates of Vienna, which brought together many counter-jihad ideologues including Bat Ye'or, Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, Gerard Batten, Hans Jansen, Andrew G. Bostom, Paul Beliën, Aryeh Eldad and Lars Hedegaard.

[126] In the tenth European Parliament, the VB announced it would join the Patriots for Europe group, which was founded by Viktor Orban, the leader of the Hungarian Fidesz party.