Last week, for instance, De Wever announced that he did not want state reform before the federal elections of 2011. A weird twist, because state reform is the very reason N-VA exists. In essence, it is a separatist party, but it believes in evolution rather than revolution. Step by step, state reform by state reform, is how N-VA want Flanders to become independent (which is why French speakers fear these state reforms so much).

N-VA relentlessly insists on the need for state reform. In fact, N-VA’s main, if not sole, reason for entering government is its hope of achieving meaningful state reform. In the past, the party even demanded “guaranties” for this at the start of a government term (although that tactic never really worked out as well as N-VA hoped).

So, all of a sudden, this longawaited state reform can wait? Before last week, the mere suggestion of this would have outraged N-VA; but now its own leader is the one to call the whole thing off. Why? In his own words, De Wever does not want “an agreement like the ones about the budget or migration”. He would rather have no state reform than a shoddy state reform.

There is, of course, another reason. (In politics, there almost always is.) Behind the scenes, Jean-Luc Dehaene of the Christian-Democrat CD&V is quietly working at finding a solution for the bilingual constituency Brussels- Halle-Vilvoorde, a sensitive matter that has frustrated Flemish and French speakers alike for decades. Should he find this magical solution – which is far from sure – it will inevitably be part of a larger package of compromises. Something like a state reform, really, albeit only a small one.

This may lead to some painful decisions on the part of the Flemish government. It might even have to appoint three recalcitrant French-speaking mayors who have repeatedly refused to obey the language laws! Surely N-VA does not want to be part of that. In their eyes, that would represent a step backwards. N-VA is not afraid of dirtying its hands for the sake of state reform, but, clearly, there are limits.