ABSTRACT
On the Flemish side, the N-VA was born out of the ashes of the shrinking Volksunie (People’s Union, VU). Tensions around the negotiations of the fifth reform of the state led to a bloody divorce and the split of the VU (Wauters 2005). Two parties emerged out of the VU: Spirit, which gathered most of the former elite of the VU and adopted more left-wing positions and placed less emphasis on the centre-periphery issues; and the N-VA, which gathered some leading figures such as Geert Bourgeois and the majority of the base of the party, adopted more rightwing positions and put more emphasis on centre-periphery issues. The electoral potential of these two successor parties was not rated high in the polls (van Haute 2011). After various changes of name and strategy, Spirit dissolved in 2009. This chapter focuses on the remaining heir of the VU: the N-VA. 1 On the francophone side, the regionalist parties were historically divided, with one party defending the interests of the francophones in Brussels (the FDF) and another party defending the interests of the francophones in Wallonia (the Rassemblement Wallon – RW – see van Haute and Pilet 2006). The RW disappeared in 1985. This chapter focuses on the remaining party: the FDF.
