Flemish nationalist boycott prevents disruption of Philippe’s investiture

There was no disruption during Philippe’s investiture ceremony yesterday, the far-right Vlaams Belang party having decided to boycott the ceremony. The closest thing to an incident was independent MP Jean-Marie Dedecker’s refusal to applaud the new king. The openly republican and separatist  N-VA was represented by roughly one-third of its MPs, especially those with specific parliamentary roles, such as the president of the Flemish parliament in Jan Peumans and the party leaders in the commons, Jan Jambon, and in the Senate, Huub Broers. "We are present out of respect for our democratic institutions,” said Jambon, “but we do not cheer on all this circus, and all the festivities that will take place after the swearing-in are of no interest to us. However great a king Philippe turns out to be, he won’t convince us that the monarchy is better than the republic. " Only two of the eight ministers in the Flemish government (in which the N-VA is a coalition partner) were present: minister-president Kris Peeters  and housing and energy minister Freya Van den Bossche. Peeters said that those who were absent were only “on holiday, nothing more”. Albert’s investiture ceremony had been disrupted by maverick MP Jean-Pierre Van Rossem shouting “Vive la République! Vive Lahaut!”, a reference to the communist MP Julien Lahaut who, in 1950, was assassinated a week after shouting “Vive la République!” during King Baudouin’s investiture.