Over the past three years, ten parliamentarians have been reported to the Prime Minister and Justice Minister by Belgium’s State Security Agency over concerns about foreign interference.
According to a report from the R Committee obtained by Belga News Agency, the cases highlighted by the Intelligence Services Control Committee relate to “interference and espionage” or “interference and extremism”.
The reports do not imply these officials succumbed or were even aware of such interference.
Nearly all the cases were identified in 2021.
China is mentioned twice within the context of an investigation into the activities of the Chinese embassy in Brussels.
Five other cases are connected to Morocco with concerns about “possible manipulation”. These cases involve Brussels and Wallonian parliamentarians, as well as European parliamentarians.
In 2022, an investigation into Russian funding discovered a federal deputy who had been targeted. The threat was characterised as interference and extremism.
By 2023, a separate inquiry revealed that a federal deputy had fallen “victim” of a tentative attempt by China to exert influence. The person unknowingly cooperated in that case in the foreign influence attempt.
In some instances, briefings were conducted with those involved to mitigate the situation, however, in others, no specific action was undertaken.
Foreign interference in Belgian and European democracy has become a recurrent issue over recent months.
At the end of last year, foreign media exposed former Vlaams Belang senator, Frank Creyelman, who had reportedly been under the influence of a Chinese agent. This revelation had repercussions on his brother Steven, who was compelled to resign from two closed-door military committees.
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