Far-right given boost as Antwerp council resigns

The entire Antwerp council, including its Mayor, resigned yesterday in a scandal over buying perfume, clothes and shoes on official credit cards, to the delight of Belgium's outcast far-right party, the Vlaams Blok.

Two months before a Belgian general election, the furore has been a godsend to the extremist Blok, which has been excluded from power in Antwerp even though it won 33 per cent of the vote in municipal elections in October 2000.

The daily newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen provoked the storm last month with a report that officials responsible for the police were suspected of fraud. The claims were initially denied.

On Wednesday, the Blok's leader, Filip Dewinter, provided evidence that credit cards issued by the city had been used to buy goods and services for thousands of euros, including suits, hats, handbags, perfumes, birth announcement cards, shoes, a weekend in a hotel and a set of glasses.

An offer to repay the cash did not prove enough to abate criticism, leading to yesterday's mass resignation. Mr Dewinter welcomed the move but said he feared a "whitewash" that would not bring any real change in the city government.

The Mayor, Léona Detiège, said she would remain in office in a caretaker capacity. She and the 10 councillors who quit denied any wrongdoing.

The revelations are deeply damaging to the mainstream parties because a rainbow coalition had kept the Blok out of power. The anti-immigration Blok can now trumpet itself as the only important political force untainted by corruption.