Keulen is relatively well known as a former Flemish minister. As minister of the interior, he was the one who blocked the appointment of three Frenchspeaking mayors after they had broken language laws several times. This has given him an undeserved reputation as a Flemish hardliner, whereas in fact Keulen is one of the most soft spoken and affable of politicians (which makes one wonder: is this what Open VLD needs to become successful again?).

Keulen is also a protégé of Patrick Dewael, who, along with Verhofstadt, is one of the “old guard” within Open VLD. If anything, he stresses continuity. He does not want Open VLD to run any risks.

Which is exactly what Alexander De Croo represents. The 33-year-old party member has never been elected and, for all the elections in this country, has only been a candidate in one of them. Still, he is a household name, for he is the son of Herman De Croo, one of the most colourful characters in Belgian politics.

Herman De Croo is a traditional liberal, who wants little to do with anything modern and has never shied away from rendering small services for any of his voters. This has made him quite popular, or has given him, in his own words, a “high penetration grade” in his constituency.

Herman De Croo is notorious for several things. For one, he is particularly clever at manoeuvring within Open VLD. He is respected by the militants but has never been taken entirely serious by the so-called establishment of Verhofstadt and Dewael. He is also known for speaking his very own variant of the Dutch language, a mixture of East- Flemish dialect, Gallicisms and self-invented expressions he calls “Decrooisms”.

Finally, he seems to have been around forever and plans to stick around for much longer. “I will stay in the House of Representatives until I die,” he said. “At which point I will move on to the Senate.”

His son Alexander now profiles himself as a bit of a rebel. He shrugs off his lack of experience. “If that is what you want, you have to pick someone who has been in parliament since 1830 [the date of Belgian independence],” he says. “And that can only be my father.”