In 2003, Agalev (which stood for Anders Gaan Leven, or Live A Different Life) changed its name to Groen! Punctuation marks were all the rage those days – with a dot in SP.A and an ampersand in CD&V – but with an exclamation mark at the end of its name, Groen! outdid the rest.

But Groen! was in trouble. Having been in both the federal and Flemish governments since 1999, the electorate turned its back to the ecologists, blaming them for all that went wrong with both. Groen! was left with no seats in the federal Parliament, as it failed to meet the electoral threshold. Something needed to be done, and the exclamation mark was a start.

Since then, a new generation has stood up, with Wouter Van Besien as party president and Meyrem Almaci as forthright federal opposition speaker. This party renewal has taken quite a few years, during which even old-time legend Mieke Vogels – known as Moeke, or mum – took over the party presidency for a while. But now the greens are back: confident, bordering on arrogant.

Things do look good for them, too, as one of only two winners in the last federal elections.

Van Besien took part in the institutional talks to end the deadlock between the language communities and promised to support the agreement reached in parliament. His party was then chucked out of the talks, as Open VLD en CD&V preferred to leave them out of the federal government.

Officially, Groen! was incensed, but the truth is that opposition mode suits the party. It makes it stand out as a left-wing alternative, which has always been the key to its success. In fact, the greens even feel confident enough to drop the exclamation mark from their name, which is now simply Groen.

Only one party feels better about itself these days: N-VA, which won the 2010 elections convincingly. Like Groen, it remained in opposition, preparing itself for this year’s local elections. Like Groen, it was all but wiped out in 2003. And like Groen, it is confident, bordering on arrogant. But then who wouldn’t be with polls predicting election results of over 30%?