Belgium's new Interior Minister Jan Jambon of the separatist New Flemish Alliance (NVA) has spoken out in defense of people who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
The politician, who was sworn in as new federal deputy prime minister and interior minister last week, told newspapers that war-time collaboration with the Nazis, who occupied Belgium from 1940 to 1944, was wrong, but that "people had their reasons."
Jambon was quizzed about his presence at a 2001 meeting of Belgians who fought for Nazi Germany. At the time, a Flemish regional minister who also attended the gathering was forced to resign. "As a minister, you have to refrain from doing things that you are allowed to do before being appointed," Jambon told the newspaper 'Dernière Heure'.
The Flemish nationalist, a life-time supporter of Flanders' independence who until now headed the NVA's parliamentary caucus, also came under fire for attending a lecture given by French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in Antwerp in 1996, which was also attended by the NVA party leader Bart De Wever. Jambon said he never espoused far-right ideas, and his presence at such meetings should not be seen as an endorsement of the ideas of the speakers.
Jambon said one his priorities as Belgian interior minister would be the fight against radical Islam. In May 2014, a suspected jihadist from France murdered four people at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels.
The Flemish nationalist NVA became the strongest party in last May's parliamentary elections in Belgium for the second time in a row and now entered a government together with other Flemish and French-speaking parties. The Liberal Charles Michel was sworn in as new Belgian prime minister, succeeding Socialist Elio Di Rupo.
