Koenraad Dillen

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Koenraad Dillen

Koenraad Dillen (born on 6 November 1964 in Mortsel) is a Belgian politician and Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaams Belang, sitting in the Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty group in the European Parliament. He is the son of Karel Dillen, founder of the Vlaams Blok.

He sits on its Committee on Development, and is a substitute for the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and a member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

In January 2005, Dillen caused little commotion in Belgian media, after the Belgian website Blokwatch published pictures of Dillen, visiting Léon Degrelle, probably in 1992, a fascist who collaborated with the Waffen-SS in World War II. Those pictures were perfectly visible in the middle of Mr. Dillen's living room. Mr. Dillen also has picture of Léon Degrelle being congratulated by Adolf Hitler in SS-uniform, with an autograph by Mr. Degrelle calling Mr. Dillen "a dear friend". In the paper De Morgen of February 1 2005 Dillen responded by saying: "I went without antipathy and without sympathy. I concur that Degrelle hasn't always helped the Flemish and that he was a megalomaniac at times, but in 1992 he was already 84 years old. That was 50 years after the war and it is certainly less objectionable than visiting the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Léon Degrelle might have been a collaborator, but definitely not a war criminal."