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A new far-right francophone political party named after US President Donald Trump has been launched in Belgium.
TRUMP — an acronym for Tous Réunis pour l’Union des Mouvements Populistes (All United for the Union of Populist Movements) — is a successor to the now-dissolved Chez Nous political movement and the old Belgian Front National party.
The founder of the new party is Salvatore Nicotra, former chairman of the Belgian Front National.
“Donald Trump is the ultimate symbol of populism. He immediately embodies what we stand for,” Nicotra told the Brussels-based news outlet BRUZZ.
Unlike Vlaams Belang — Belgium’s largest far-right party which advocates Flemish separatism — Nicotra said that TRUMP has a unitary vision for the country.
“We are a right-wing populist party with a social slant,” he said.
According to BRUZZ, the new party’s executive committee includes Emanuele Licari, who ran for Vlaams Belang in Brussels but was dropped after openly glorifying fascism.
TRUMP aims to run in country’s 2029 federal and European Parliament elections, and is also contemplating fielding candidates at the regional and municipal levels.
The party’s official launch is set to take place on 30 November.
Belgium’s five-party coalition has been locked in budget negotiations for months, with Prime Minister Bart De Wever seeking to cut €10 billion in spending.
De Wever told Belgium’s parliament last week that he had asked King Philippe to give the government until Christmas to reach a budget agreement, local media reported.