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Hay & Menon: European Politics

Belgium

Belgium was one of the founding states of the Benelux Customs Union, established by the exiled governments of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1944. It aimed to unify three small economies in order to avoid the problems of post-war economic reconstruction that would face such small economies facing difficulties in trade. It was also seen as a precursor to the larger phase of European integration brought in by the Treaty of Rome, of which all three Benelux countries were signatories. Belgium has been a strong supporter of European integration throughout the period of post-war European integration. This is due to both the great importance of trade to the Belgian economy, but also due to the advantages reaped by Belgium in its hosting of the main institutions of the European Union in Brussels. During the 1990s, Belgium was one of the member states with the largest level of public debt, producing fears that it would not be able to qualify for membership of the single currency. However, it was eventually decided that as Belgian debt was in the process of being tackled by the government, and had begun to move in the right direction, that Belgium would after all qualify for adoption of the Euro.