Benelux

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Benelux Union
Flag
Logo
Member states of the Benelux Union Luxembourg Netherlands Belgium
Administrative centre and largest agglomeration	Brussels 50°51′N 4°21′E / 50.850°N 4.350°E / 50.850; 4.350
Official languages	Dutch, French[1]
Other official languages of contracting states	German, Luxembourgish, West Frisian, English, Papiamento
Type	Politico‑economic union
Member states	Belgium  Netherlands  Luxembourg
Legislature	Parliament
Establishment
• Customs union treaty signed	5 September 1944[2]
• Customs union in effect	1 January 1948[2]
• Renewal signed	17 June 2008
• Renewal in effect	1 January 2010
Area
• Total	74,657 km2 (28,825 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	29.3 million (2018)
• Density	390.5/km2 (1,011.4/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$1.580 trillion[3]
• Per capita	$48,359
Currency	Euro (EUR)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Driving side	right
Website www.benelux.int

The Benelux Union (Dutch: Benelux Unie;^[4] French: Union Benelux;^[5] Luxembourgish: Benelux-Unioun)^[6] is a politico-economic union of three neighbouring states in western Europe: Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg.^[7]

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).^[8] 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 of the European Economic Community (EEC) and today's European Union (EU).

The main institutions of the Union are the Committee of Ministers, the Council of the Union, the General Secretariat , the Interparliamentary Consultative Council and the Benelux Court of Justice while the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property cover the same territory but are not part of the Benelux Union.

The Benelux General Secretariat is located in Brussels. It is the central administrative pillar of the Benelux Union. It handles the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Economic Union and the various committees and working parties.

Politics[edit]

Prime Ministers Mark Rutte (Netherlands), Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg) and Yves Leterme (Belgium) in The Hague on 24 May 2011

A Benelux Parliament (originally referred to as an "Interparliamentary Consultative Council") was created in 1955. This parliamentary assembly is composed of 21 members of the Dutch parliament, 21 members of the Belgian national and regional parliaments, and 7 members of the Luxembourg parliament.

In 1944, exiled representatives of the three countries signed the London Customs Convention, the treaty that established the Benelux Customs Union. Ratified in 1947, the treaty was in force from 1948 until it was superseded by the Benelux Economic Union. The treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union (Benelux Economische Unie/Union Économique Benelux) was signed on 3 February 1958 in The Hague and came into force on 1 November 1960 to promote the free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods in the region. Under the Treaty the Union implies the co-operation of economic, financial and social policies.

Cooperation with other Geopolitic-regions[edit]

In 2017 the members of the Benelux, the Baltic Assembly, and three members of the Nordic Council (Sweden, Denmark and Finland), all EU-member states, sought intensifying cooperation in the Digital Single Market, as well as discussing social matters, the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, the European migrant crisis and defence cooperation. Relations with Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom was also on the agenda.^[9]

Law[edit]

Meeting of Benelux delegates in The Hague, 1949

The Benelux Union involves an intergovernmental co-operation.^[10]

The unification of the law of the three Benelux countries is mainly achieved by regulations of its Committee of Ministers, that only bind the three states, but are not directly applicable in their internal legal orders.^{[clarification needed]} They only become legally valid after having been incorporated into national law, with the exception of Belgium. The Belgian Court of Cassation decided in 1971 that any self-executing treaties have priority over laws by the Belgian parliament.^[11]

The Treaty establishing the Benelux Union has provided the Committee of Ministers with the following legal instruments: decisions, conventions, recommendations and directives.

The Committee of Ministers can promulgate decisions in the fields for which it has competence - those fields are explicitly set down in the Union Treaty or the additional conventions. When the Committee of Ministers adopts a decision, it immediately becomes binding on the three governments. For a decision to be also applicable to the citizen, it must be transposed into national law.

The Union Treaty is not exhaustive. For this reason, Article 19 of the Treaty provides that the Committee of Ministers may conclude additional conventions. These therefore constitute extensions of the Union Treaty. They are submitted to the national parliaments for approval in keeping with the ratification procedure applied in each of the Member States. Thus there are a large number of Benelux conventions in a wide range of subject matters.^[12]

In 1965, the treaty establishing a Benelux Court of Justice was signed. It entered into force in 1974.^[13] The Court, composed of judges from the highest courts of the three States, has to guarantee the uniform interpretation of common legal rules. This international judicial institution is located in Brussels.

The Benelux is particularly active in the field of intellectual property. The three countries established a Benelux Trademarks Office and a Benelux Designs Office, both situated in The Hague. In 2005, they concluded a treaty establishing a Benelux Organisation for Intellectual Property which replaced both offices upon its entry into force on 1 September 2006. This Organisation is the official body for the registration of trademarks and designs in the Benelux. In addition, it offers the possibility to formally record the existence of ideas, concepts, designs, prototypes and the like.^[14]

Characteristics[edit]

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg form the Benelux.

Countries[edit]

	Kingdom of Belgium[15]	Kingdom of the Netherlands[16]	Grand Duchy of Luxembourg[17]
Flag
Coat of arms
Official local name	Koninkrijk België[15] Royaume de Belgique[15] Königreich Belgien[15]	Koninkrijk der Nederlanden[16]	Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg[17] Großherzogtum Luxemburg[17] Grand-Duché de Luxembourg[17]
Common name	Belgium	Netherlands	Luxembourg
Population[18] (2016)	11,358,379	17,203,616	575,747
Area	30,528[15] km2	41,543[16] km2	2,586.4[17] km2
Population density	363.6/km2	407.8/km2	194.1/km2
Capital city	Brussels[15]	Amsterdam[16]	Luxembourg City[17]
Largest urban areas	Brussels : 2,120,000 Antwerp : 1,200,000 Liège : 749,110 Ghent : 594,582 Charleroi : 522,522[19][20][21][22][23][24]	Amsterdam : 2,431,000 Rotterdam : 1,181,284 The Hague : 1,054,793 Utrecht : 656,342 Haarlem : 424.601[25]	Luxembourg City : 180,000 Esch-sur-Alzette : 33,939 Differdange : 24,805 Dudelange : 20,003 Ettelbruck : 8,544
Form of government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy[15]	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[16]	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[17]
Current heads of state and government	Philippe (Monarch) Charles Michel (Prime Minister)[15]	Willem-Alexander (Monarch) Mark Rutte (Prime Minister)[16]	Henri (Monarch) Xavier Bettel (Prime Minister)[17]
Official languages	Dutch, French, German[15]	Dutch[16] Regional: West Frisian,[26] Papiamento, English[27]	Luxembourgish, French, German[17]
Main religions	58% Roman Catholic 16% Other Christian 5% Islam 2% Other religion[28]	49.2% Non-Religious 24.4% Roman Catholic 15.8% Protestant 4.9% Islam[29]	68% Roman Catholic 3% Protestant 3% Other Christian 2% Islam[30]
GDP (nominal)[31] [32] [33] [34]	$454.687 billion[31][32][33][34]	$738.419 billion[31][32][33][34]	$57.423 billion[31][32][33][34]
GDP (nominal) per capita[35][36][37]	$40,107[35][36][37]	$43,603[35][36][37]	$101,994[35][36][37]
GDP (PPP)[38] [39] [40]	$494.121 billion[38][39][40]	$832.623 billion[38][39][40]	$55.730 billion[38][39][40]
GDP (PPP) per capita	$43,585[41] [42][43]	$49,166[41][42][43]	$98,987[41][42][43]
Real GDP growth rate[44][45]	1.30 %[44][45]	1.80 %[44][45]	4.40 %[44][45]
Currency	Euro[15]	Euro[16] US dollar[note 1]	Euro[17]
Military personnel	37,500[46]	46,500[47]	1,510[48]
Labour force	5,279,000[49]	7,884,000[49]	265,800[49]

Associated territories[edit]

	Aruba[50]	Curaçao[51]	Sint Maarten[52]
Flag
Coat of arms
Official local name	Aruba[50]	Land Curaçao/ Pais Kòrsou[51]	Sint Maarten[52]
Population[18] (2016)	104,822	159,371	39,537
Area	180 km2[50]	444 km2[51]	34 km2[52]
Population density	575.21/km2	344/km2	1110/km2
Capital city	Oranjestad[50]	Willemstad[51]	Philipsburg[52]
Form of government	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[50]	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[51]	Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy[52]
Sovereign state	Kingdom of the Netherlands[50][51][52]
Current heads of state and government	Willem-Alexander (Monarch)[50] Evelyn Wever-Croes (Prime Minister)[50]	Willem-Alexander (Monarch)[51] Eugene Rhuggenaath (Prime Minister)[51]	Willem-Alexander (Monarch)[52] Leona Marlin-Romeo (Prime Minister)[52]
Official languages	Dutch, Papiamento[50]	Dutch, Papiamento, English[51]	Dutch, English[52]
Main religions	75.3% Roman Catholic[50] 4.9% Protestant [50] 1.7% Jehovah's Witness[50] 1.2% Other Religion[50]	72.8%, Roman Catholic[51] 6.6% Pentecostal[51] 3.2% Protestant[51] 3% Adventist[51]	41.9% Protestant[52] 33.1% Roman Catholic[52] 5.2% Hindu[52] 4.1% Other Christian[52]
GDP (nominal)	$2.664 billion[31][32][33][34]	$3.159 billion[31][32][33][34]	$1.059 billion[31][32][33][34]
GDP (nominal) per capita	$25,751[35][36][37]	$18,360[35][36][37]	$18,360[35][36][37]
GDP (PPP)	$2.516 billion[38][39][40]	$3.128 billion[38][39][40]	$0.3658 billion[38][39][40]
GDP (PPP) per capita	$36,015[41][42][43]	$15,000[41][42][43]	$36,327[41][42][43]
Real GDP growth rate	2.40 %[44][45]	3.60 %[44][45]	3.60 %[44][45]
Currency	Aruban florin[50] US dollar	Netherlands Antillean guilder[50]	Netherlands Antillean guilder[52]

Renewal of the agreement[edit]

The Benelux Union office in Brussels

The Treaty between the Benelux countries establishing the Benelux Economic Union was limited to a period of 50 years. During the following years, and even more so after the creation of the European Union, the Benelux cooperation focused on developing other fields of activity within a constantly changing international context.

At the end of the 50 years, the governments of the three Benelux countries decided to renew the agreement, taking into account the new aspects of the Benelux-cooperation – such as security – and the new federal government structure of Belgium. The original establishing treaty, set to expire in 2010, was replaced by a new legal framework (called the Treaty revising the Treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union), which was signed on 17 June 2008.

The new treaty has no set time limit and the name of the Benelux Economic Union changed to Benelux Union to reflect the broad scope on the union.^[53] The main objectives of the treaty are the continuation and enlargement of the cooperation between the three member states within a larger European context. The renewed treaty explicitly foresees the possibility that the Benelux countries will cooperate with other European member States or with regional cooperation structures. The new Benelux cooperation focuses on three main topics: internal market and economic union, sustainability, justice and internal affairs. The number of structures in the renewed Treaty has been reduced and thus simplified. Five Benelux institutions remain: the Benelux Committee of Ministers, the Benelux Council, the Benelux Parliament, the Benelux Court of Justice, the Benelux Secretariat General. Beside these five institutions, the Benelux Organisation for Intellectual Property is also present in this Treaty.

See also[edit]

• EU Med Group
• Baltic Assembly
• Inner Six
• Low Countries
• Nordic Council
• United Kingdom of the Netherlands
• Visegrád Group

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Kersten, A.E. (1982). Maken drie kleinen een grote? De politieke invloed van de Benelux, 1945-1955. Bussum: Van Holkema & Warendorf. OCLC 63269615.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benelux.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Benelux.

Official sites

• Benelux official site (in French)
• Benelux Parliament
• Benelux Court of Justice
• Benelux Office for Intellectual Property