A new name for the province of Antwerp?

Today, an idea surprised all newspapers readers! The parties of the federal majority in Flanders (N-VA, CD&V and Open VLD) suggested a change in the name of the Antwerp province (called after its capital city)... into "Central Brabant" (Midden-Brabant in Dutch)!

Why "Central Brabant" and not "Northern Brabant"? Actually, there is already a Northern Brabant in the Netherlands, constituting the Northern part of a former Duchy of Brabant, which also included a Middle (Antwerp province) and a Southern Brabant (Flemish and Walloon Brabants... and Brussels). Some people see this name change as a good idea to boost collaboration between the Dutch and Flemish Brabants. These regions share the same dialect group called Brabantian (which today seems to be used in media as a sort of standard Flemish dialect)...

What it would look like if they changed the name of the Antwerp province

Anyway, the suggestion was made because there is too much confusion between the city and the province of Antwerp. People don't seem to identify clearly with its capital, a big city with a powerful identity, which takes all the attention in the province, while people from Kempen, Rupel, Mechelen, etc. apparently don't feel very "Antwerpian". By contrast, East Flanders is already not called after its capital Ghent, and people in some part of the province don't identify themselves to it either. Ultimately, a reason for the change in name is because the three parties wish to give big cities such as Antwerp and Ghent more autonomy from their province.

The news caused an uproar on the web and some people think it is part of a series of pointless changes from a goverment that wants to ultimately separate Belgium in two countries. Others see it as a way to encourage a re-annexation of Flanders to the Netherlands, as was the larger Brabant territory. Well, there is also a Dutch and a Flemish Limburg, but... I don't think it can happen, because Flemish nationalists are usually proud of their region and very few actually see it as a part of the Netherlands. A lot more think this name change doesn't really "change" anything, but it would have a cost and there are more important matters (especially economical ones) to be debated now. Liège and Namur are also both city names and province ones, and they're pretty confusing too, but it doesn't seem to matter to anyone...

The idea was already provided by far-right party Vlaams Belang in 2008, but didn't go further on. It will have to wait until 2019 for the legislative elections, because you need to change the Belgian constitution in order to achieve it...