State Coat of Arms of Belgium. Belgium is a country in Europe and member of estonian foreign relations international organizations like the European Union and NATO which are both headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
As a federal state, the Communities and Regions have their own foreign relations and are able to conclude treaties themselves. Because of its location at the crossroads of Western Europe, Belgium has historically been the route of invading armies from its larger neighbours. With virtually defenceless borders, Belgium has traditionally sought to avoid domination by the more powerful nations which surround it through a policy of mediation. This policy of neutrality ended after the experience of German occupation during World War I. In the years preceding World War II, Belgium tried to return to a policy of neutrality, but once again, Germany invaded the country.
Likewise, the Benelux abolition of internal border controls was a model for the wider Schengen Accord, which today is integrated in the acquis communautaire and aims at common visa policies and free movement of people across common borders. Belgium remains a strong proponent of NATO. Belgium has been one of the strongest supporters of NATO since the inception of the alliance in 1949. Having suffered through two invasions in two world wars, Belgium was aware of its security needs and the limitations of its means for self-defense. As a result, the leaders of that nation began calling for the formation of a defensive alliance shortly after the liberation of Belgium at the end of World War II. In 1948, after expressions of concern by several European states that the Treaty of Brussels was too limited in scope and effectiveness, the prime minister of Canada called for a mutual defense system comprising Western Europe and North America. On April 4, 1949, the foreign minister of Belgium joined with representatives from Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States in signing the treaty forming NATO.
Belgium has influenced the alliance policy in many ways. One of the country’s most prominent international statesmen, Paul Henri Spaak, served as secretary general of NATO from 1957 to 1961. When France withdrew from the military operations of NATO in 1966, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe was transferred to Mons, in a rural area southwest of Brussels. Six months later, the organization’s political headquarters was also relocated to Brussels. In 1967 the North Atlantic Council formally adopted a proposal, formulated by Belgian foreign minister Pierre Harmel, that altered the nature of NATO policy.
The Harmel plan called for NATO to be partially transformed from an entirely defensive system to one designed to encourage East-West détente and increased political consultation among the members of the alliance. In December 1979 the members of NATO decided to modernize the Europe-based United States nuclear arsenal by deploying 572 new ground-launched missile systems in Western Europe that were capable of reaching the Soviet Union. During the consultations that preceded the NATO decision, the Belgian coalition government was described as supportive of the proposed missile deployment. The NATO ministers expected the government to endorse the proposal and accept the missile deployment on Belgian territory. In September 1980, however, the government issued an ambiguous “non-decision” that allowed supporters and opponents of deployment to claim victory.
