De Lijn states that it has become extremely cost efficient in recent years. Cutting the budget is possible only by scraping services or raising ticket prices. Both have become rather symbolic in Flemish politics, as the socialist party was in charge of De Lijn for years. (In fact, socialist vice-minister-president Ingrid Lieten is a former Lijn director-general.)

SP.A believed in two concepts: basic mobility (everyone should have access to public transport, irrespective of where they live) and free public transport. As a result, De Lijn has overcrowded lines in and around the cities but empty buses in more rural areas, while busses and trams are free for the elderly and cheap for school children. Peumans calls the ticket prices “ridiculously low”.

Doing away with all that seems attractive to some – mostly those who rarely use public transport – but is rather unpopular with people who depend on it to get to school, work or to just get out. Flemish mobility minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V) has already said that she will not allow a raid on De Lijn.

Minister-president Kris Peeters, meanwhile, sent a letter to Peumans, who started this debate. How, Peeters asked, can the Flemish Parliament cut its own budget? This question had nothing to do with Peumans’ statements on De Lijn, Peeters says. How dare we think this was his way of striking back? Peumans, who proposed to cut his own wages some years ago, duly responded that he would look into it.

All of this shows that the Flemish government is not immune to the worsened climate between CD&V and N-VA, which formed a cartel until some years ago. N-VA blames CD&V for joining a federal government that has no Flemish majority and will not deliver the state reform for which both parties asked. CD&V, on the other hand, depicts N-VA and its popular leader Bart De Wever as incompetent and untrustworthy, shortcomings which led to it being left out of the federal talks.

Welcome on board the 2012 political tram! Last time we checked, the tickets were free.