Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union entrusted to a Board of Directors consisting of two Belgian members (including the chairman) and one Luxembourgish member, and the Higher Council of the Union (with three Belgian and two Luxembourgish members). Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union The Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union (, , ), abbreviated to BLEU or UEBL, is an economic union between Belgium and Luxembourg, two countries in the Benelux Union. BLEU was created by a treaty, signed on 25 July 1921, despite a referendum against such a proposal, between Belgium and Luxembourg, and came into effect upon ratification by the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies on 22 December 1922. Under
Southern Netherlands until 1867. The King of the Netherlands was Grand Duke of Luxembourg until 1890, when William III was succeeded by his daughter, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands – but Luxembourg still followed the Salic law at the time, which forbade a woman to rule in her own right, so the union of the Dutch and Luxembourger crowns then ended. The northwestern two-thirds of the original Luxembourg remains a province of Belgium. The Spanish Netherlands (Dutch: "Spaanse Nederlanden", Spanish: "Países Bajos españoles") was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from 1556 to 1714, inherited from the Dukes of Burgundy.