Economy of Belgium force. One of the founding members of the European Community, Belgium strongly supports deepening the powers of the present-day European Union to integrate European economies further. About three-quarters of its trade is with other EU countries. Together with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Belgium is also one of Benelux member states. Belgium's public debt is about 105% of GDP. The government succeeded in balancing its budget during the 2000–2008 period, and income distribution is relatively equal. Belgium began circulating the euro currency in January 2002. Economic growth and foreign direct investment dropped in 2008. In 2009 Belgium suffered negative growth and
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 regional juries, it is unclear whether individual jury votes were announced on screen during the show, or if a full ranking of the songs was released; currently only the top two placings are known. On the night of the final Lombard performed 3rd in the running order, following the Netherlands and preceding Austria. At the close of the voting "Quand tu reviendras" had received 8 points (3 from Italy and 1 apiece from Finland, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and the United Kingdom), placing Belgium joint 7th (with Monaco and Yugoslavia) of the 17 participating countries. The Belgian jury awarded 6 of