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Belgium

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Best known as the seat of important global organizations such as the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Belgium is a lively, thriving hub of art, culture and industry in Western Europe. It is also characterized by the deep cultural and linguistic schism between the Germanic Flemings and the Celtic-Latin Walloons.

Officially, Belgium is a federal state consisting of three regions: Flanders in the north where the official language is Dutch; Wallonia in the south where French is the official language and Brussels, the capital, where French and Dutch share official language status.

Brussels is the capital of Belgium and the headquarters of most of the European Union's institutions, making it the de facto capital of the European Union. Geographically and linguistically, it is a bilingual center in the unilingual Flemish Region. People living in Brussels have to deal with both the Flemish community and the French-speaking community in matters of culture and education.