Youth and initial career Annemans studied law at the
University of Antwerp (UA) and graduated in 1982. He held a seat on the council of the university's law faculty and the UA governing and executive boards. He was also the chief editor of the UA-newspaper and presidium member of
Sofia, the guild of the Antwerp law students. During his academic studies from 1980 to 1981, Annemans was head of the editorial staff of the students' magazine
Tegenstroom, the club publication of the
Katholiek Vlaams Hoogstudentenverbond (Flemish Catholic Students' Society, KVHV) society. After graduating he also contributed to several columns in the pro-Flemish conservative weekly newspaper ''
't Pallieterke.
Annemans was briefly promoted to a chief editing position at t Pallieterke'' but eventually opted for a career in politics.
Vlaams Blok / Vlaams Belang In 1985, Gerolf Annemans became a public activist of the Vlaams Blok (renamed Vlaams Belang on 14 November 2004), as he was offered the place of first substitute on the electoral list for the
Belgian federal parliament in the constituency of
Antwerp. From 1987 onwards, he had a seat in that assembly, and thus was the longest established Vlaams Belang MP. Until 2013, he chaired the Vlaams Belang group. On his watch the party grew from a two member group to Belgium's third largest political faction, counting 18 members (after the
2003 Belgian federal election). Furthermore, Annemans is a longstanding member of the city council of Antwerp, a prominent on the Vlaams Belang party board and former director of the Vlaams Belang political research department.
A quarter-century of parliamentary opposition In his parliamentary work and speeches, Annemans often mentions "the Belgian disease" (the inability of
Flemings and
Walloons yet to rule together efficiently). The
cordon sanitaire (the unwritten agreement among all other parties not to work together with Vlaams Belang, irrespective of the number of its elected representatives) is viewed by Annemans as a problem that concerns
Flanders in its entirety, due to his belief that it has been imposed on Flemish politics by an alliance of Francophone parties and their Flemish left-wing collaborators. Annemans view the party as an alternative to the moderate Flemish-regionalist
N-VA, which, in his view, got entirely absorbed by Belgian power politics. Recently, Annemans did not only present himself as a member of the
Flemish Movement, but also as a true
republican. In doing so, he advocates thorough social reform through
Flemish independence, as well as through a far-reaching transformation of the EU on the basis of the
sovereignty principle.
Member of investigative and persecutive commissions In his crusade against what he diagnoses as the "Belgian disease" (in this sense the political-administrative tangle facilitating inefficiency and corruption), he joined several parliamentary commissions for the investigation of scandals and embezzlements. In that capacity, Annemans took part in the
Dutroux commission (1996), the commission investigating the "
Brabant massacres" (also 1996), the
Dioxin affair commission (1999), the
Sabena commission (2001), and the two commissions concerning the
Fortis affair (2009).
Annemans and Lijst Dedecker After the federal elections of 10 June 2007, Annemans warned his partisans on his weblog for underestimation of the "Dedecker factor". He did not believe that the then successful
Lijst Dedecker (a one man-party founded and presided by
Jean-Marie Dedecker) would be a temporary hype such as the former party
ROSSEM had been. According to Annemans, Dedecker had "broken the traditional monopoly of VB as the
Robin Hood, the big mouth and
Lucky Luke which all others fear." Moreover, the Belgian king
Albert II received Jean-Marie Dedecker for his consultations following the elections, and not the then VB party chairman
Frank Vanhecke. In a political talk show Annemans called it an error to exclude cooperation with Lijst Dedecker.
The orderly split-up of Belgium In 2010, Annemans announced the publication of a new book in which he would outline a blueprint for the "active preparation of Flemish independence." The book called for Flemish independence and detailed how that would be put into effect. The fourth print of the book got outlawed in 2012 by the
commercial court of
Brussels. The judge ruled that the publication would have violated the rights of the British telecommunications provider O2, because the chemical symbol for
oxygen (also the company's logo) figures on its cover. Furthermore, the book inspired Annemans to conceive two manifestoes that gave more depth to the Vlaams Belang platform: the Hoofdstad-Manifest on Brussels (spring 2013), and the Europa-Manifest on the EU (autumn 2013). On the topic of Flemish independence he published two follow up books: 'Quid Nunc?' (2016) and 'Momentum' in 2023.
Party chairman On 16 December 2012, Annemans was elected chairman of the Vlaams Belang. He succeeded
Bruno Valkeniers after poor election results, where the party had lost over two-thirds of its electorate in its traditional stronghold Antwerp. Annemans' chairmanship was confirmed in a secret ballot by a large majority of 92% of party members. The fresh VB foreman championed a strict migration policy and a revision of EU cooperation, but mostly focused on Flemish independence. == Member of the European Parliament ==