The New Flemish Alliance’s decision to join the ECR group says more about Belgian politics than it does about their attitude toward the EU

The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), which won the largest share of the vote in the Belgian federal elections in May, has traditionally combined a pro-EU platform with calls for greater autonomy for Flanders. Benjamin Leruth writes on the party’s decision to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group for the next European Parliament, which also includes David Cameron’s Conservative Party. He notes that while joining a broadly Eurosceptic or ‘Eurorealist’ group like the ECR represents a break with its previously pro-EU positions, it may be motivated largely by a desire to draw a distinction between the N-VA and other parties in Belgium who are located within other groups in the Parliament.