Peumans is a colorful character and a staunch Flemish nationalist. Shortly before the regional elections, political journalists voted him “best Flemish MP”, which filled him with pride. When the nationalist party N-VA entered the Flemish government, Peumans was a ministerial hopeful, but in the end his party put forward the newcomer Philippe Muyters. This saddened Peumans, but not for long. There was, after all, work to be done in the Flemish Parliament.

And indeed, ever since Peumans took over as speaker, the debate has become a lot more animated, its main subject being…Peumans himself.

The speaker enraged the opposition and embarrassed the majority when he described the quality of some parliamentary interventions as very poor. His remedy? Elocution lessons for those MPs who feel they need them. His colleagues also blame Peumans for being overly zealous, as he often scraps parliamentary questions he feels are inappropriate. But his enthusiasm for improving the quality of the discussions finally turned against him.

Last week, Peumans again took centre stage when he refused to attend the annual reception at the Royal Palace, on the grounds that this was against his republican principles. He had arranged to be replaced, but protocol ruled this out. In the end, the Flemish Parliament remained unrepresented.

Peumans felt unjustly treated – by “one single civil servant” – as he did everything in his power to stop this from becoming a major incident. Still, an incident it became. Sven Gatz, leader of the opposition party Open VLD, reproached him for a “Boudewijn complex” – a reference to the Belgian king who refused to sign an abortion law for reasons of conscience.

The speaker of the Flemish Parliament, like the King, is not just a person, with personal beliefs, but also an Institution, and should act accordingly.

It is too soon to tell whether Peumans (unintentionally) has done the Flemish Parliament more harm than good. He has, however, succeeded in one thing. The media no longer dismiss the assembly as a boring, technocratic place, since the next incident involving the speaker is always just around the corner.