The proposal is the work of Annick De Ridder, a member of the Flemish parliament for Open VLD. De Ridder was joined in her op-ed piece by Ludo Van Campenhout, a member of the federal parliament and, like De Ridder, a member of the board of the Port of Antwerp.

The Western Scheldt needs to be dredged at 12 locations to make it possible for large container ships to make their way to the port of Antwerp, which they can currently only do at specific tide times. But most of the channel is in Dutch waters, and the Dutch are dragging their feet. The Port of Rotterdam is the main beneficiary if Antwerp is unable to handle the traffic.

Antwerp politicians on all sides are furious at the potential economic losses for the city and Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters last week called in the Dutch ambassador to talk to her about the issue.

Flemish politicians and the Antwerp port authorities want to force the Dutch to act. But the idea of economic sanctions is so far out in left field that the suggestion of such measures, made by De Ridder and Van Campenhout, earned them little more than embarrassed silence from their political fellows. The very idea brings back memories of the Cod War of the 1970s or the boycott of Chilean wine by students in the 1980s.

The De Ridder plan is, regardless of political opinion, bound to fail. You do not mess with the stomachs of Flanders, whatever the justice of your cause. Flemings are proudly insistent on pointing out that they are Bourgondiërs, fond of good food. Stand between a Fleming and his dinner at your peril, and right now is the season for mussels.

Peeters diplomatically called for calm. An editorialist in De Standaard, on the other hand, was more abrupt. De Ridder's proposal was "nonsense", the paper declared. "Above all, denying ourselves Zeeland mussels goes against our own interests. They are too delicious."