Belgium of the European Union and the extraordinary and committee sessions of the European Parliament. Belgium shares borders with France (), Germany (), Luxembourg () and the Netherlands (). Its total surface, including water area, is 30,528 square kilometres from which land area alone 30,278 km. It lies between latitudes 49°30 and 51°30 N, and longitudes 2°33 and 6°24 E. Belgium has three main geographical regions; the coastal plain in the northwest and the central plateau both belong to the Anglo-Belgian Basin, and the Ardennes uplands in the southeast to the Hercynian orogenic belt. The Paris Basin reaches a small fourth
France–Germany relations regain Alsace-Lorraine and briefly resume its old position as the leading land power on the European continent. France was the leading proponent of harsh peace terms against Germany at the Paris Peace Conference. Since the war had been fought on French soil, it had destroyed much of French infrastructure and industry, and France had suffered the highest number of casualties proportionate to population. Much French opinion wanted the Rhineland, the section of Germany adjoining France and the old focus of French ambition, to be detached from Germany as an independent country; in the end they settled for a promise that