Don’t worry, my boss said. They may speak our language, but they are still foreign. They will only have two questions. Will Belgium fall apart soon? And what about the Vlaams Blok? Sure enough, that was exactly what they wanted to know. The answer to question one was easy (“no”), but number two was a harder nut to crack.

Since the 1980s, politicians, journalists and academics alike have wondered why the foulmouthed, far-right party now called Vlaams Belang (after a name change due to some associated organisations being condemned for racism) was so successful. This was especially a question in the beginning when migration and Islam were hardly an issue, and the nationalist element was virtually absent from the politics of the time.

There is still no simple explanation, but one thing did stand out: Vlaams Belang was never a party like all the others. To the outside world, Vlaams Blok/ Belang never saw any of the traditional infighting or internal discussion. It was much like a monolithic…erm…block, whose message always sounded in unison. (To the extent that one MP even stated in a hilarious TV interview: “My own personal opinion? That you have to ask Filip Dewinter…”).

But the monolith has started to crumble. The past couple of weeks we have seen party president Bruno Valckeniers trying to get members to agree to a softer approach, making Vlaams Belang “radical but respectable”, only to be rebuffed by party strong man Filip Dewinter. Vlaams Belang has even had personnel trouble: Marie- Rose Morel – once destined to become the party’s leading lady and very popular with the electorate – has become almost an outcast within party ranks, causing former president Frank Vanhecke to resign from the party’s board.

All of a sudden, Vlaams Belang looks just like any other party.

What has changed?

Well, for one, Vlaams Belang has lost the Flemish election, the first defeat in 14 elections! Somehow, it seems to have lost much of its relevance, too. Or is there another reason why very few foreign observers have asked about Vlaams Belang lately?