In 2018 the Flemish Government agreed to introduce citizenship education for all students in secondary schools. This is new, since Flanders does not have an elaborated tradition of citizenship education. After a presentation of the political genealogy and the content of the new educational goals, the article analyses which theoretical framework can be used to explain this policy shift in Flanders. Conventional theories such as 'interest groups' and 'rational choice' do not serve the purpose. We argue that the policy transformation can better be explained by a combination of both the 'path dependent explanation' and 'the paradigm creates politics approach'. While the paradigm shift has certainly played a big role, it does not offer the full explanation why Flanders formulated official learning goals for citizenship education. The path-way change has been initiated by a small reference in a parliamentary document to a European text in an early stage of the overall reform process of the educational goals in Flanders.