The problem for Flanders is access to Antwerp; the Westerschelde needs to be dredged at 12 key places in order to permit access by large container ships, which currently can only sail through at high tide. The matter is crucial not only to the port of Antwerp but also to the whole of the region: goods arriving in Antwerp that are then taken on by road have to travel less distance across Flanders than those that come to Rotterdam – the alternative to Antwerp when the Westerschelde is impassable.

The two countries signed a treaty in 2005 that obliges the Dutch to dredge their part of the river, which accounts for most of it, by 2010. But the Dutch Council of State at the end of July suspended the operation following a request from two nature organisations, which argued that government plans for nature protection were inadequate. The dredging would in effect raise the water level in the Westerschelde, and some polder land would then be flooded, with consequences for flora and fauna.

The Dutch government will now set up a special commission to examine how an alternative environmental plan could be put in place. However, there is so far no word about who will make up what the government last week called “a consortium with a great deal of experience”, let alone how long it will take to do its work. The questions were due to be put to Balkenende at last week’s session of the Second Chamber, but nature minister Gerda Verburg was suddenly taken ill and rushed to hospital, and the debate was suspended. Not, however, before Balkenende had admitted that dredging “will not take place before January”.