The year 2016 is held out for more than one constitutional transformation. The centenary of the Easter Rising is Sinn Féin's target for a united Ireland. The NVA (New Flemish Alliance) has reset the middle of the next decade as the target date for the establishment of an independent Flanders, the original target of 2005 having been missed.
The difficulty is not in setting a target, but devising a credible means of achieving it. Sinn Féin would like the Irish Government to do its work for it, by issuing a white paper on Irish unity, a pointless exercise at this juncture. It is necessary to walk before one can run. Until all of nationalist and republican Ireland is doing everything in its power to make the Good Friday agreement work, there is no point attempting to bypass it for something infinitely more ambitious.
If everything possible is done in good faith to complete demilitarisation on the republican side, and a persistent point-blank refusal is encountered on the unionist side to share power, that would be a different situation.
It is unlikely unionists would be determined to demonstrate Northern Ireland cannot function as a political entity, even if requirements of an exclusive commitment to democracy and the rule of law are met by all.
The NVA, which has 6-7 per cent of the popular vote in Flanders, knows that a patient, evolutionary task is involved in persuading its own people of the virtues of independence. The radical Vlaams Belang party at 20 per cent gets some of its popular vote from tough anti-immigration rhetoric.
Belgium is an uneasy political construction dating from 1830, now divided into three regions, Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia, and the bilingual national and European capital of Brussels. Brussels, where Flemish-speakers are in a minority, is nonetheless the Flemish capital, whereas Namur is the Walloon capital. It is claimed that the two things which unite Belgians are the royal family and the football team.
Some political forces in Flanders would like complete independence from a country long dominated by the Walloon minority. Today there is resentment that the industrially stronger and more prosperous Flanders has to subsidise a socialist-run and public sector dominated Wallonia.
The income gap is no more than 10 per cent, much less than between the north and south of Italy, and scarcely more than that between Dublin and the Border, Midland and Western Region.
Flemish, like Scottish, nationalists are clear that their dreams can only be realised in a united Europe, something Sinn Féin shows no sign of grasping. Quite apart from the strong European heritage of Irish nationalism back to the 16th and 17th centuries, the distinguishing and attractive feature of independent Ireland, to quite a lot of Northern businessmen among others, is Ireland's immersion in Europe and the successful economic transformation that this has brought about. The North-South imbalance that long underpinned partition has been swept away.
A conference organised last Saturday by NVA and its minister Geert Bourgeois in the Flemish parliament building focused on the viability of small states under modern conditions.
Prof Enrico Spolaore recalled the virtues attributed to small states by 18th-century philosophers Beccaria, Montesquieu and Francis Hutcheson. He quoted Beccaria's view, which may have some disturbing application to the EU, following rejection of the constitutional treaty in two founder countries, France and the Netherlands:
"To the extent that society increases, each member becomes a smaller part of the whole . . . Societies, like human bodies, have their circumscribed limits, and, if they grow beyond them their economy is necessarily disturbed".
The case for large units are efficiencies in terms of cost of government, and also greater insurance against big risks. However, dictators can create inefficiently large empires. Advocates of large units tend to emphasise only the benefits of size without taking into account costs to citizens in loss of heterogeneity.
Spolaore agreed that an essential component of the economic viability and prosperity of small states is a high degree of economic integration and openness within Europe and with the rest of the world: "In a régime of free trade, small countries can prosper, while in a world of trade barriers, being large is much more important for economic success".
The richest country in the world is Luxembourg, while the highest rate of growth has been achieved by Singapore. His final conclusion was that a reversal of the trend towards economic integration and more international co-operation would be lethal for smaller countries, and damaging to all.
Euroscepticism may have dubious merits for a country the size of Britain. It is a recipe for disaster for Ireland.
The successful Irish EU experience is of deep interest to Flemish nationalist politicians, who readily adapt Thomas Davis's famous verse to: "And Flanders, long a province be, a nation once again". The proceedings concluded with the European anthem and then the Flemish anthem.
Over the centuries, the boundaries of Flanders have fluctuated. The NVA argues for a peaceful reconfiguration. Boundaries and identities are in principle no more immutable in an Irish context.
Our ambition to comprehend all traditions is different from the separatist mission of the early 20th century, and which preoccupies Flemish nationalists.
At the same time, there is little point in creating here a Belgian-type political union, if people and communities much prefer to stay apart.
The task of persuasion in both causes of Irish unity and Flemish independence is likely to be more difficult than politicians, who are professional optimists, are likely to concede.
The resistance to the modest constitutional change in the EU treaty (which is sleeping, not dead), illustrates the challenge, as myriad objections, real and imaginary, can be raised.