N-VA party chairman Bart De Wever talks to the press on September 19, 2016 in Brussels | Filip De Smet/AFP via Getty Images Flemish leader tells Spain’s ruling party to ‘keep its mouth shut’ The Popular Party had accused Belgium’s N-VA of having a ‘xenophobic past.’

A spat between Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) and Flemish nationalists escalated as the leader of Belgium's N-VA party said Monday that the PP "should keep its mouth shut" when talking about party history.

In the back-and-forth dispute, Popular Party member and MEP Esteban González Pons had called the N-VA's criticism of Madrid's handling of the Catalan crisis "irresponsible and dangerous for the necessary cooperation between EU member states," according to Belgian broadcaster RTBF. He also called the N-VA a "nationalist, anti-European party," adding that it "has a xenophobic history, especially towards immigrants."

In response, N-VA leader Bart De Wever told broadcaster VRT Monday, that “a lot of people from the [Francisco Franco] regime still hold responsibilities within that party, which apparently didn’t learn the lessons of the past all too well: to respect democratic rights, to not use violence against citizens, to not throw politicians in jail.”

De Wever's comments were in reference to reports of police violence against Catalan people who tried to vote in the October 1 independence referendum, deemed illegal by Spanish authorities, as well as the recent jailing of eight former Catalan leaders without bail pending trial.

“I’d say [the PP] don’t have to lecture anyone in the European Union anymore,” De Wever added.

Former Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont's arrival in Brussels last week sparked tensions between the N-VA and the Popular Party. Before Puigdemont turned up in Brussels last Monday, N-VA member and Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken had suggested he could seek asylum in Belgium.

Laurens Cerulus contributed to this report.