The European Parliament elections are a matter of days away, however one of the EU’s founding member states is due to go to the polls for its domestic elections on June 9 and the result could have radical implications.

Belgian voters are set to cast their votes for who they want to form their next government and as it stands the Flemish separatist movement Vlaams Belang (VB) are set to get the largest number of seats.

VB, led by 37-year-old Tom Van Grieken, has been characterised as “far-Right” and under its old name Vlaams Blok was found guilty of breaching anti-racism laws.

Belgium is currently divided into three major regions: Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital region. The Flemish, who live in the northern Flanders region, are Dutch-speaking, while the Walloons, living in the south, speak French.

Flemish party VB is set to win a projected 27 parliamentary seats and become the largest party, with fellow Right-wingers the New Flemish Alliance (NVA) coming in second with 20 seats.

That in turn could pave the way for the country being formally dissolved and the independent states of Flanders and Wallonia being set up. However, it’s not quite that simple.

VB wishes to see Belgium as a formal entity brought to an end, with a “declaration of sovereignty” made and independence realised in the coming years.

However, NVA has dismissed separation in the immediate future, instead calling for a “confederal” state which would see Belgium to continue to exist for major policy areas like defense, but with virtually all other legislative powers brought down to the regional level.

Even if VB and NVA come to an agreement, they will have to negotiate with the French-speaking parties over any separation arrangements.

What’s more, in Belgian politics, the largest party rarely if ever gets to see their leader become prime minister. For example, the current leader is a Flemish liberal from the seventh largest block of votes in the federal parliament.

There is also an established cordon sanitaire in place, where parties opposed to VB act in lock-step to prevent it being able to get into power.

All this means that despite there being a groundswell towards Flemish independence in a large part of Belgium, it is far from certain whether it will ever come to pass.