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
So You Think You Can Dance (Belgium and the Netherlands, season 5) So You Think You Can Dance (Belgium and the Netherlands, season 5) The fifth season of So You Think You Can Dance, a Dutch/Belgian televised dance competition, aired in the fall of 2012 on networks RTL5 (Netherlands) and vtm (Belgium). Judges Dan Karaty, Euvgenia Parakhina and Jan Kooijman all returned as permanent members of the judge's panel. Departing judge Marco Gerrits was replaced by choreographer Ish Ait Hamou. An Lemmens and Dennis Weening returned in their roles as co-hosts. On December 9, hip-hop dancer Frederic de Smet was announced as the winner of the competition and awarded a choice of