History of the Netherlands The post-war years saw rapid economic recovery (helped by the American Marshall Plan), followed by the introduction of a welfare state during an era of peace and prosperity. The Netherlands formed a new economic alliance with Belgium and Luxembourg, the Benelux, and all three became founding members of the European Union and NATO. In recent decades, the Dutch economy has been closely linked to that of Germany, and is highly prosperous. The four countries adopted the Euro on 1 January 2002, along with eight other EU member states. The prehistory of the area that is now the Netherlands was largely
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