"have repercussions for neighboring countries; uncertainties regarding federal and regional responsibilities (now resolved) have slowed progress in tackling environmental challenges. The main cities in Belgium in terms of population are Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège. Other notable cities include Bruges, Namur, Leuven, Mons and Mechelen. Geography of Belgium Belgium is a federal state located in Western Europe, bordering the North Sea. Belgium shares borders with France (556 km), Germany (133 km), Luxembourg (130 km) and the Netherlands (478 km). Belgium comprises the regions of Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Total renewable water resources: 18.3 cu km (2011) Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):"
"located in Bordeaux, France, presents the history of French customs. France has land borders with other members of the European Union Customs Union Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Monaco and Spain. European Union laws prohibit systematic customs checks at any border between two members of its Customs Union. So, there is permanent customs facility at the borders with these countries. However, France has borders with non members of this Union : Switzerland, Andorra, Brazil and Surinam. At these borders are located customs facilities. Moreover, there are many facilities inland. French Customs are allowed to search vehicles, merchandises and individuals anywhere France"
"border belongs to the Lorraine region of France. Lotharingia Lotharingia (Latin: ""Lotharii regnum"") (French: ""Lorraine"") was a medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire, comprising the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), Saarland (Germany), and Lorraine (France). It was named after King Lothair II who received this territory after the kingdom of Middle Francia of his father Lothair I was divided among his sons in 855. Lotharingia was born out of the tripartite division in 855 of the kingdom of Middle Francia, which itself was formed after the threefold division of the Carolingian Empire by the Treaty"
"France–Germany border The border between the states of France and Germany has a length of about . The border can be traced back from the 17th century, and the various treaties following the Thirty Years' War starting with the treaty of Westphalia and Nijmegen, marking the Rhine as the frontier between France, and the different German states. The actual border as we know was determined after the revision acted at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The border then changed after the French defeat during the Franco-Prussian war, where France was forced to yield Alsace-Lorraine to the new German empire"
"forested uplands of central Germany and the low-lying lands of northern Germany (lowest point: Neuendorf-Sachsenbande at below sea level), traversed by some of Europe's major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe. Germany shares borders with nine European countries, second only to Russia: Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Switzerland (its only non-EU neighbor) and Austria in the south, France in the southwest and Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in the west. Germany is in Western and Central Europe, bordering Denmark in the north, Poland and the Czech Republic in the east, Austria"
"To the east, Luxembourg borders the German ""Bundesländer"" of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and to the south, it borders the French ""région"" of Grand Est (Lorraine). The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region, in particular the latter's provinces of Luxembourg and Liège, part of which comprises the German-speaking Community of Belgium, to the west and to the north, respectively. The northern third of the country is known as the 'Oesling', and forms part of the Ardennes. It is dominated by hills and low mountains, including the Kneiff near Wilwerdange, which is the highest point, at 560 metres (1,837 ft). Other"
"Belgium–Netherlands border The Belgium–Netherlands border separates Belgium and the Netherlands and is 450 km long. Belgium and the Netherlands are part of the Schengen Area. This means there are no permanent border controls at this border. On the Belgian side, the border is shared by four Flemish provinces (out of the five in the Flemish Region). From west West Flanders, East Flanders, Antwerp and Limburg (Belgium). A small part is shared by the Walloon province of Liège, which also includes the German-speaking East Cantons. At the Dutch side, the border is shared by three provinces: Zeeland, North Brabant and Limburg."
"part of the border between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Meuse river, coming from France and Belgium, here enters its third and final flowing country, the Netherlands. From here on its name in Dutch is ""Maas"". Running northward to Eijsden's west it locally forms the westerly frontier of the last mentioned country with Belgium. Its Belgian border across the Meuse is Lanaye, a village of Liège province in Wallonia, whereas its border to the south is the Voerstreek exclave of Limburg province in Flanders. A smaller stream, the Voer, coming from Belgium, drains into the Meuse river in this place."
"Luxembourg Luxembourg (; ; ; ), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France to the south. Its capital, Luxembourg City, together with Brussels and Strasbourg, is one of the three official capitals of the European Union and the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU. Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and German cultures, as evident by the"
"France. During summer, around 70,000 visitors cross the Spanish border daily to buy such products, occasioning severe traffic jams. Nearby Andorra, with a low VAT (4%), is also extremely popular with French customers residing in the area. There is a significant amount of border trade in marijuana between the Netherlands, where cannabis is essentially legal, and surrounding countries such as Belgium, Germany, and France. A more legal example of the Netherlands is the Limburg province, where citizens occasionally take trips to Germany and Belgium to buy commodities like: medicinal products, handcrafted furniture, fresh produce, alcoholic beverages or home appliances for"
"After 1870 some parts of ""Moselle"" and ""Meurthe"" became German. Of the remaining parts, France formed the new department named Meurthe-et-Moselle. After 1918 and the Great War, France took over control again of ""Moselle"". When France created its administrative regions in the middle of the 20th century, it decided to gather ""Meurthe et Moselle"", ""Meuse"", ""Moselle"" and ""Vosges"" into a single region, known as Lorraine. Lorraine is the only French region to have borders with three other countries: Belgium (Wallonia), Luxembourg, and Germany (Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate). It also borders the French regions of Franche-Comté, Champagne-Ardenne, which were at times part of"
"by Portugal; on the south, it is bordered by Gibraltar (a British overseas territory) and Morocco, through its exclaves in North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla, and the peninsula of Vélez de la Gomera). On the northeast, along the Pyrenees mountain range, it is bordered by France and the Principality of Andorra. Along the Pyrenees in Girona, a small exclave town called Llívia is surrounded by France. Extending to , the Portugal–Spain border is the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union. Spain also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and a"
"(29.16%) and ""Austrasie"" (22.65%) were the top two names among 25 candidates and 4,701 votes. Grand Est also topped a poll the following month conducted by L'Est Républicain, receiving 42% of 3,324 votes. The names which received a moderate amount of discussion were: Grand Est covers of land and is the sixth-largest of the regions of France. Grand Est borders four countries—Belgium (Wallonia region), Luxembourg (Cantons of Esch-sur-Alzette and Remich), Germany, and Switzerland—along its northern and eastern sides. It is the only French region to border more than two countries. To the west and south, it borders the French regions"
"no further legal value whatsoever. Flanders shares its borders with Wallonia in the south, Brussels being an enclave within the Flemish Region. The rest of the border is shared with the Netherlands (Zeelandic Flanders in Zeeland, North Brabant and Limburg) in the north and east, and with France (French Flanders in Hauts-de-France) and the North Sea in the west. Voeren is an exclave of Flanders between Wallonia and the Netherlands, while Baarle-Hertog in Flanders forms a complicated series of enclaves and exclaves with Baarle-Nassau in the Netherlands. Germany, although bordering Wallonia and close to Voeren in Limburg, does not share"
"France–Italy border The France–Italy border is the international boundary between France and Italy. The Franco-Italian border is 515 km long, southeast of France and northwest Italy. It begins at the west tripoint France–Italy–Switzerland () at the top of Mont Dolent ( m), in the French commune of Chamonix (department of Haute-Savoie), the Italian city of Courmayeur, (Aosta Valley) and the Swiss commune of Orsières (canton of Valais). The boundary then follows a general direction towards south, to the Mediterranean, it reaches the sea at Menton in France and Ventimiglia in Italy. The border separates three regions (Aosta Valley, Piedmont and"
"and Switzerland in the south, France and Luxembourg in the south-west, and Belgium and the Netherlands in the north-west. It lies mostly between latitudes 47° and 55° N (the tip of Sylt is just north of 55°), and longitudes 5° and 16° E. The territory covers , consisting of of land and of water. It is the seventh largest country by area in Europe and the 63rd largest in the world. The northern third of the country lies in the North European Plain, with flat terrain crossed by northward-flowing watercourses (Elbe, Ems, Weser, Oder). Wetlands and marshy conditions are found"
"the text passage remained unchanged when the ""Deutschlandlied"" was declared the national anthem of the Weimar Republic in 1922. Meuse The Meuse ( ; ; Walloon: ""Moûze"" ) or Maas ( ; or ""Maas"") is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . From 1301 the upper Meuse roughly marked the western border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Kingdom of France, after Count Henry III of Bar had to receive the western part of the"
"Geography of Luxembourg Luxembourg is a small country located in the Low Countries, part of North-West Europe It borders Belgium for to the west and north, France () to the south, and Germany () to the east. Luxembourg is landlocked, separated from the North Sea by Belgium. The topography of the country is divided very clearly between the hilly Oesling of the northern third of the Grand Duchy and the flat Gutland, which occupies the southern two-thirds. The country's longest river is the Sauer, which is a tributary of the Moselle, the basin of which includes almost all of Luxembourg's"
"Its continental part covers about 1000 km from north to south and from east to west. France has several overseas regions across the world, which are organised along different : France has land borders with Brazil and Suriname via French Guiana and with the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the French portion of Saint Martin. Metropolitan France covers , the largest among European Union members. France's total land area, with its overseas departments and territories (excluding Adélie Land), is , 0.45% of the total land area on Earth. France possesses a wide variety of landscapes, from coastal plains in the"
"reform in the Kingdom, a Secretariat for the Kingdom will be instituted that prepares the agenda for the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom and guards the enforcement of decisions of the Council. The Kingdom of the Netherlands covers . The Kingdom of the Netherlands has land borders with Belgium, Germany (both in the Netherlands), and France (on Saint Martin). About one quarter of the Netherlands lies below sea level, as much land has been reclaimed from the sea. Dikes were erected to protect the land from flooding. Previously, the highest point of the Netherlands was the Vaalserberg in Limburg"
"France–Switzerland border The <dfn>France–Switzerland border </dfn> (, , ) is 572 km long. Its modern boundaries are mostly the product of the Congress of Vienna of 1815, with the accession of Geneva, Neuchatel and Valais to the Swiss Confederation, but it has since been modified in detail, for the last time (as of 2013) in 2002. The tripoint where it meets the Swiss-German and Franco-German borders is in the river Rhine (at ) at Basel. A monument has been built near it, known as the Dreiländereck. Its other end is at the tripoint with the French-Italian and Swiss-Italian borders (at"
"France–Switzerland border The <dfn>France–Switzerland border </dfn> (, , ) is 572 km long. Its modern boundaries are mostly the product of the Congress of Vienna of 1815, with the accession of Geneva, Neuchatel and Valais to the Swiss Confederation, but it has since been modified in detail, for the last time (as of 2013) in 2002. The tripoint where it meets the Swiss-German and Franco-German borders is in the river Rhine (at ) at Basel. A monument has been built near it, known as the Dreiländereck. Its other end is at the tripoint with the French-Italian and Swiss-Italian borders (at"
"is relatively flat and agriculturally fertile. In the south-east lie the Ardennes, hilly and sparsely populated. Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands (Limburg) in the north, France (Grand Est and Hauts-de-France) to the south and west, and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) and Luxembourg (Capellen, Clervaux, Esch-sur-Alzette, Redange and Wiltz) to the east. Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980. The term ""Wallonia"" can mean slightly different things in different contexts. One of the three federal regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the Walloon Region, but the region's government has renamed"
"Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ) is a politico-economic union of three neighbouring states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name ""Benelux"" is formed from joining the first two or three letters of each country's name – Belgium Netherlands Luxembourg – and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union (signed in 1944). It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic, economic and cultural grouping of the three countries. In 1951, these countries joined West Germany, France, and Italy to form the European Coal and Steel Community, a predecessor"
"The state covers an area of and shares borders with Belgium (Wallonia) in the southwest and the Netherlands (Limburg, Gelderland and Overijssel) in the west and northwest. It has borders with the German states of Lower Saxony to the north and northeast, Rhineland-Palatinate to the south and Hesse to the southeast. Approximately half of the state is located in the relative low-lying terrain of the Westphalian Lowland and the Rhineland, both extending broadly into the North German Plain. A few isolated hill ranges are located within these lowlands, among them the Hohe Mark, the Beckum Hills, the Baumberge and the"
"Foreign relations of Belgium Belgium is a country in Europe and member of major international organizations like the European Union and NATO which are both headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. As a federal state, the Communities and Regions have their own foreign relations and are able to conclude treaties themselves. Because of its location at the crossroads of Western Europe, Belgium has historically been the route of invading armies from its larger neighbours. With virtually defenceless borders, Belgium has traditionally sought to avoid domination by the more powerful nations which surround it through a policy of mediation. The Concert of Europe"
"still to be solved concerning the demarcation of the border at the top of Mont Blanc. France–Italy border The France–Italy border is the international boundary between France and Italy. The Franco-Italian border is 515 km long, southeast of France and northwest Italy. It begins at the west tripoint France–Italy–Switzerland () at the top of Mont Dolent ( m), in the French commune of Chamonix (department of Haute-Savoie), the Italian city of Courmayeur, (Aosta Valley) and the Swiss commune of Orsières (canton of Valais). The boundary then follows a general direction towards south, to the Mediterranean, it reaches the sea at"
"on matters of religion and, in recent decades, it has faced new divisions over differences of language and unequal economic development. This ongoing antagonism has caused far-reaching reforms since the 1970s, changing the formerly unitary Belgian state into a federal state, and repeated governmental crises. It is now divided into three regions: Flanders (Dutch-speaking) in the north, Wallonia (French-speaking) in the south, and bilingual Brussels in the middle. There is also a German-speaking population along the border with Germany that was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815 but added to Belgium following the 1919 Treaty of"
"Between Belgian and Dutch Limburg, the border is mostly formed by the Meuse (Maas) river. The other parts of the border is mostly on land. The city of Baarle-Hertog forms a Belgian exclave in the Netherlands. The border is complicated there, with Dutch exclaves inside it. The eastern end point is the tripoint (together with Germany) at Vaalserberg. During the First World War, an electric fence was installed along the border by the German military, called the Wire of Death. Two border changes have occurred in recent history with regard to the Belgium–Netherlands border. Belgium–Netherlands border The Belgium–Netherlands border separates"
"of Belgium. Today, the greater region is situated along both sides of the border between speakers of the German and French languages. 11,182,975 people live in an area of about 65,400 km. Situated in the center of the European Union, it contains highly populated urban sections along the rivers. These areas include industries, especially mining and steelworking. Rural areas are dominated by agriculture. Luxembourg is a sovereign nation with full autonomy. Each of the four départements of the French region of Lorraine is twice the size of the whole nation of Luxembourg. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has a population"
"Germany–Netherlands border The Germany–Netherlands border is 570 km long (including rivers but excluding the maritime border in the Dollart bay and outside it) and separates Germany and the Netherlands. The provinces (counted from north) on the Dutch side are Groningen, Drente, Overijssel, Gelderland and Limburg. The states on the German side are Niedersachsen and Nordrhein-Westfalen. The border begins in the north at the shore of the Dollart bay, part of the Ems river estuary, then it goes southwards, not without repeatedly deflecting several kilometres towards the west, partly following some small rivers, and for 8 km the large Rhine river."
"the river Moselle near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, where the territories of France, Germany and Luxembourg meet. Three of the signatories, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, had already abolished common border controls as part of the Benelux Economic Union. The Schengen Agreement was signed independently of the European Union, in part owing to the lack of consensus amongst EU member states over whether or not the EU had the jurisdiction to abolish border controls, and in part because those ready to implement the idea did not wish to wait for others (at this time there was no enhanced co-operation"
"History of Belgium The history of Belgium extends before the founding of the modern state of that name in 1830. Belgium's history is therefore intertwined with those of its neighbours: the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg. For most of its history, what is now Belgium was either a part of a larger territory, such as the Carolingian Empire, or divided into a number of smaller states, prominent among them being the Duchy of Brabant, the County of Flanders, the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and County of Luxembourg. Due to its strategic location and the many armies fighting on its soil, since"