After assuming leadership, Tom Van Grieken stated that the party had dropped its opposition to gay marriage. In 2014, the party moderated its stance and changed its policy to support same-sex marriage. This more moderate stance has not been widely accepted by all party members. On abortion the party is socially conservative. Law and order In order to secure Flemish cities, the party wants to implement a policy of zero tolerance. It supports the abolition of the Belgian parole law, which allows convicts to be released after only one third of their prison sentence has been served. The party also opposes drug liberalization. Citing "a massive overrepresentation of immigrants in crime statistics," the party also wants to deport criminal and illegal foreigners, as well as seeking to "combat Islamic terror threat." Foreign policy The party describes itself as pro-European in terms of protecting European culture and cooperation between nations to secure peace, but takes a strict eurosceptic stance towards the European Union as a whole and argues the EU does not financially benefit Flanders or respect the national identity of member states. In its program, the VB is strongly against any evolution towards a Federal European Superstate, argues for Flemish withdrawal from the Schengen Area and the reinstatement of border controls, abolition of the Eurozone and opposes the accession of Turkey to the European Union. The party states that it supports cooperation of European nations for economic trade and to give Flanders political visibility but calls for the EU to be fundamentally changed into a smaller confederal union of independent nations or abolished if it becomes a Federal Superstate and imposes further open border policies on Flanders. Economy The party's economic policy has been changed significantly from the Vlaams Blok. While the Vlaams Blok called for a rather mixed economy, the Vlaams Belang moved towards neoliberalism. However, for the 2019 federal election, the party returned to a protectionist economic program. Reception and criticism Like its predecessor, Vlaams Belang has been accused of racism and for promoting hostility and xenophobia by both French and Dutch speaking political opponents in Belgium. Since its founding, most parties in Belgium have refused to cooperate with the VB and in 2004 continued the cordon sanitaire on the party in the Federal Parliament. The party itself has repeatedly denied that it is racist and believes such accusations are based on attempts to discredit the party. Politicians,