Other articles were greeted with caution by politicians on the French-speaking side of the country. The preamble describes Flanders as “a nation with its own language and culture” and emphasises that “Brussels is the capital of Flanders”.

The charter is not to be regarded as a “constitution”, said Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters, and it “has nothing to do with independence”. The word “nation” was reported to have been inserted at the insistence of the nationalist N-VA party, but elsewhere the document stresses that Flanders is part of the federal state of Belgium.

Peeters described the text as a sort of “identity card of Flanders, with a timeless character”. His party colleague Lieven Decaluwé, head of the CD&V fraction in the Flemish parliament, pointed out that the text is not exceptional. The German regions all have one, he said. A full copy in Dutch of the charter is available for download on the website of De Standaard.

www.standaard.be/handvest