Belgium: Brussels the capital, three official languages, the euro, and EU membership from the start
Background
The euro-area interest rate decision and the budget talks in today's Belgian news both rest on the same fact: Belgium has been inside the European project from its beginning.
The European Union's own country profile gives Belgium's capital city as Brussels and its official EU languages as Dutch, French and German.
Belgium's currency is the euro and it has been an EU member country since 1 January 1958.
It has been a Schengen area member since 26 March 1995.
The profile describes Belgium's political system as a federal constitutional monarchy in which the king is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government in a multi-party system.
Belgium's population is given as 11 900 123 and it sends 22 representatives to the European Parliament.
In plain words
Schengen area The European zone of free movement without internal border checks — Separate from EU membership itself.
MEP Member of the European Parliament — Directly elected by voters in each member state.