Belgium

Belgium is a founding member of the European project and the political heart of the Union: Brussels, its capital, hosts the main European institutions. Since signing the Treaty of Rome in 1957, Belgium has been at the centre of every step of European integration.

A federal country where Dutch, French and German speakers live together, Belgium embodies in miniature the European art of uniting diversity through dialogue and compromise. It has been a driving force behind the single market, the eurozone and the Union's deepening at every turn.

In the European Parliament, Belgium holds 22 seats (2024). As host nation, it lives the European project not as a distant abstraction but as part of daily life.

Belgium shows what lies at the core of the European Democrats' vision: that diversity, far from being an obstacle, is the very foundation on which a united Europe is built.