Italo-belgian media reflections on 'ndrangheta in Belgium 2016-2020

Abstract

The article aims at updating the vague status of the ‘ndrangheta in Flanders (Belgium), at crossroads between Italy and the Netherlands, by means of a critical reading of recent open sources in Italian and Dutch. We analyze Flemish media representations of the 'ndrangheta (2016-2020), describing how De Standaard, Flanders’ reference newspaper gradually evolved from a focus on an Italian-Calabrian criminal phenomenon towards a more global perspective, following international anti-mafia operations Pollino (2018) and Grimilde (2019).