The British government has revoked the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) of Flemish MP Filip Dewinter, barring him from entering the United Kingdom. An official email from the British authorities states that Dewinter's ETA was cancelled on the grounds that his presence "is not considered to be conducive to the public good." The decision is final and cannot be appealed.
Dewinter belongs to the far-right, Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang. The MP had been invited by British activist and journalist Tommy Robinson to speak at the "Unite the West" rally in London on Saturday, a protest against mass immigration and Islamisation. Organisers expect the event to draw hundreds of thousands of participants.
Dewinter, who had spoken at a similar mass rally in London last year, responded sharply to the ban. "I should have torn up my passport, and sailed from the Belgian coast to Dover in an inflatable boat and registered there as a political refugee. Then, presumably, I would have been received with open arms, offered a hotel, and granted refugee status," he wrote on X.
Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken described the move as a dangerous precedent. "If MPs are denied entry to a friendly European country because their views do not please the government, then democracy turns into a dictatorship," he said.
Van Grieken has since written to the British ambassador in Belgium to demand an explanation. Vlaams Belang also intends to raise the matter in parliament on Wednesday and call on the government to summon the British ambassador.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS
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