| Description | Center-right, one-time Brussels-regionalist party advancing Francophonic interests. Party supports extending mandatory bilingualism beyond Brussels, especially to cover Dutch speaking areas. It also demands that Brussels link itself closer to French-speaking Wallonia and insists that the "federal state must be protected from Flemish nationalism." Party began as the Democratic Front of Francophones (Front Démocratique des Francophones, FDF) which for a long stretch (20 years) dominated the municipalities in the Brussels region. Party renamed itself Francophone Democratic Federalists (Fédéralistes Démocrates Francophones, FDF) in January 2010, then changed its name again on November 13, 2015 to DéFI with a goal to expand further in the Federal parliament (it maintained the two seats held by its predecessor FDF after elections on May 26, 2019) and enhance its presence in Wallonia. Party President is François De Smet [DéFI (literally, Defy) is an acronym for Démocrate, Fédéraliste, Indépendant]. |
