Benelux

The Benelux Union or Benelux is a <a href="/facts/Political_union/MCtasozk">politico</a>-<a href="/facts/Economic_union/11dTepPy">economic union</a>, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in <a href="/facts/Western_Europe/YmWlV59w">Western Europe</a>: <a href="/facts/Belgium/YKuMXP5j">Belgium</a>, the <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Netherlands</a>, and <a href="/facts/Luxembourg/vRN04l7f">Luxembourg</a>. The name is a <a href="/facts/Blend_word/3bRveURF">portmanteau</a> formed from joining the first few letters of each country's name 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.
The Benelux is an economically dynamic and densely populated region, with 5.6% of the European population (29.55 million residents) and 7.9% of the joint <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">EU</a> GDP (€36,000/resident) on 1.7% of the whole surface of the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">EU</a>. In 2015, 37% of the total number of EU cross-border workers worked in the Benelux; 35,000 Belgian residents work in Luxembourg, while 37,000 others cross the border to work in the Netherlands each day. In addition, 12,000 Dutch and close to a thousand Luxembourg residents work in Belgium.
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 <a href="/facts/Benelux_Office_for_Intellectual_Property/UH2Qen3E">Benelux Office for Intellectual Property</a> covers the same land but is not part of the Benelux Union.
The Benelux General Secretariat is located in <a href="/facts/Brussels/tNzHrQYP">Brussels</a>. It is the central platform of the Benelux Union cooperation. It handles the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Benelux Union and the sundry committees and working parties. The General Secretariat provides day-to-day support for the Benelux cooperation on the substantive, procedural, diplomatic and logistical levels. The Secretary-General is Frans Weekers from the Netherlands and there are two deputies: Deputy Secretary-General Michel-Etienne Tilemans from Belgium and Deputy Secretary-General Jean-Claude Meyer from Luxembourg.
The presidency of the Benelux is held in turn by the three countries for a period of one year. Luxembourg holds the presidency for 2025.
About 80 percent of the Benelux population speaks <a href="/facts/Dutch_language/yIB5lbsx">Dutch</a>, about 20 percent speaks <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a> and one percent <a href="/facts/Luxembourgish/HsVzn2YA">Luxembourgish</a> as their native language. A small minority under one percent are native <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a> speakers.

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Benelux