LUXEMBOURG, THREE LANGUAGES FOR FIVE WINNERS

Luxembourg in Eurovision

Luxembourg is another interesting small country full of history and culture. The Grandma wants to talk about it. Luxembourg made its debut at the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and it has won five times.

The Grandma wants to talk about the five winners who represented Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest and about their songs. Luxembourg is a country with three official languages and two of them, Luxembourgish and French, have been represented in this contest.

Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. Its capital, Luxembourg City, is one of the four official capitals of the European Union, together with Brussels, Frankfurt, and Strasbourg, and the seat of the European Court of Justice, the highest judicial authority in the EU.

Its culture, people, and languages are highly intertwined with its neighbours, making it essentially a mixture of French and German cultures, as evident by the nation's three official languages: French, German, and the national language of Luxembourgish.

Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, OECD, United Nations, NATO, and Benelux.

More information: 1944, Benelux: Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg

The history of Luxembourg is considered to begin in 963, when count Siegfried acquired a rocky promontory and its Roman-era fortifications known as Lucilinburhuc, little castle, and the surrounding area from the Imperial Abbey of St. Maximin in nearby Trier.

The linguistic situation of Luxembourg is complex. It is characterized by the existence of a language specific to the local population (Luxembourgish), mixed with the historical presence of the two major languages spoken in the surrounding countries (French and German).

Three languages are recognised as official in Luxembourg: French, German, and Luxembourgish, a Franconian language of the Moselle region that is also spoken in neighbouring parts of Belgium, Germany and France.

Though Luxembourgish is part of the West Central German group of High German languages, more than 5,000 words in the language are of French origin.

Apart from being one of the three official languages, Luxembourgish is also considered the national language of the Grand Duchy; it is the mother tongue or language of the heart for the local population.

Every citizen or resident has the right to address the administration in the language of their choice among the three official languages and to be answered in that language.

More information: Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

Luxembourg has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. Between 1956 and 1993, Luxembourg missed only the 1959 contest.

Since 1994, Luxembourg has not participated in the contest. Luxembourg has won the contest five times. Only Ireland (seven) and Sweden (six) have more wins.

Logo RTL Luxembourg

Luxembourg's first victory was in 1961 when Jean-Claude Pascal won with Nous les amoureux. France Gall then won in 1965 with Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

Luxembourg achieved back-to-back victories in the early 1970s, with Vicky Leandros winning with Après toi in 1972 and Anne-Marie David with Tu te reconnaîtras in 1973.

Luxembourg's fifth victory was in 1983, when Corinne Hermes won with Si la vie est cadeau.

Luxembourg then struggled to make an impact over the next decade, only reaching the top ten twice, with Sherisse Laurence third (1986) and Lara Fabian fourth (1988). Since being relegated from taking part in 1994, the country withdrew from the contest indefinitely.

More information: RTL

Jean-Claude Pascal (24 October 1927 in Paris, France-5 May 1992), born Jean-Claude Villeminot, was a French comedian and singer.

After surviving World War II in Strasbourg, Pascal studied at the Sorbonne before turning to fashion-designing for Christian Dior. While working on costumes for the theater production of the play Don Juan, he was exposed to acting.

His first acting role was in the film Quattro rose rosse (1951) opposite Anouk Aimée, followed by several films including Die schöne Lügnerin, 1959 with Romy Schneider, and Angélique et le sultan, 1968 with Michèle Mercier.

Jean-Claude Pascal in Eurovision (1961)

Pascal won the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg with the song Nous les amoureux, with music composed by Jacques Datin and lyrics by Maurice Vidalin.

He later represented Luxembourg again in the 1981 contest and finished 11th of 20 with the song C'est peut-être pas l'Amérique, with words and music he composed together with Sophie Makhno and Jean-Claude Petit.

Nous les amoureux was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in French for Luxembourg by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal.

The song was performed fourteenth on the night, following Denmark's Dario Campeotto with Angelique and preceding the United Kingdom's The Allisons with Are You Sure?. By the close of voting, it had received 31 points, placing it first in a field of 16 and thus helping Luxembourg to achieve the rare feat of moving from last to first in successive years.

Due to the contest overrunning in time, the reprise of this song was not shown in the UK. The UK's coverage ended shortly after the voting had finished and the winning song was declared.

The song was succeeded as Contest winner in 1962 by Isabelle Aubret singing Un premier amour for France.

It was succeeded as Luxembourgish representative at the 1962 Contest by Camillo Felgen with Petit bonhomme.

More information: Eurovision World

Nous les amoureux
Il nous a don-né le droit
Au bonheur et à la joie.

We, the lovers
He gave us the right
To be happy and to be joyful together.
 

Jean-Claude Pascal

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947-7 January 2018), better known by her stage name France Gall, was a French yé-yé singer.

In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest. Between 1973 and 1992, she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. From the ten songs proposed to her, she chose Gainsbourg's Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

On 20 March 1965, Gainsbourg, Gall, and Goraguer attended the finals of the song contest in Naples, where the song was allegedly booed in rehearsals for straying so far from the sort of song usually heard in the Contest at this point.

Although the delivery during the live show may not have been Gall's strongest performance -one critic wrote that Gall's performance was far from perfect -another noted that her voice was out of tune and her complexion pale, and when Gall called Claude François, her lover at the time, immediately after the performance, he shouted at her, You sang off key. You were terrible! -the song impressed the jury and it took the Grand Prix.

France Gall in Eurovision (1965)

Success at Eurovision ensured that Gall became even more known outside Europe and she recorded Poupée de cire, poupée de son in French, German, Italian and Japanese. There appears to be no English version released by France Gall, although there was an English cover version by the English 1960s star Twinkle.

Poupée de cire, poupée de son is a song recorded by French singer France Gall.

The song was written by Serge Gainsbourg. It is best known as the Luxembourgian winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965, held in Naples.

The song, inspired by the 4th movement, Prestissimo in F minor, from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1, was the first song to win Eurovision that was not a ballad. It was nominated as one of the 14 best Eurovision songs of all time at the Congratulations special held in October 2005.

As is common with Gainsbourg's lyrics, the words are filled with double meanings, wordplay, and puns. The title can be translated as wax doll, rag doll -a floppy doll stuffed with bran or chaff- or as wax doll, sound doll, with implications that Gall is a singing doll controlled by Gainsbourg.

Sylvie Simmons wrote that the song is about the ironies and incongruities inherent in baby pop, that the songs young people turn to for help in their first attempts at discovering what life and love are about are sung by people too young and inexperienced themselves to be of much assistance, and condemned by their celebrity to be unlikely to soon find out.

This sense of being a singing doll for Gainsbourg reached a peak when he wrote Les Sucettes for Gall.

More information: France Gall & 'Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son'

Qu'une poupée de son
Sous le soleil de mes cheveux blonds
Poupée de cire, poupée de son
Mais un jour je vivrai mes chansons
Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

I am but a wax doll, a sound idol basking
In the cold sun of my blond hair
Vinyl idol, straw doll
Now one day my songs will become real
Wax doll, straw doll.
 

France Gall

 

Vassiliki Papathanasiou (born 23 August 1949), generally known as Vicky Leandros, in Greek Βίκυ Λέανδρος, is a Greek singer living in Germany. She is the daughter of singer, musician and composer Leandros Papathanasiou, in Greek Λέανδρος Παπαθανασίου, also known as Leo Leandros as well as Mario Panas.

In 1967 she achieved worldwide fame after gaining fourth place for the country of Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song L'amour est bleu, which became a worldwide hit. She further established her career by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1972 with the song Après Toi, again representing Luxembourg.

Leandros was born in Palaiokastritsa, Corfu. Her father wanted to expand his career and went to Germany while she grew up at her grandmother's house until the age of eight.

In 1958 her parents took her to Germany where she stayed with her father permanently after her parents' divorce. She revealed her talent at a young age while taking guitar, music, dance, ballet and voice lessons.

In 1965 Leandros released her first single Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht. This was the beginning of a successful career for her with her father as composer, manager and producer. 

Vicky Leandros in Eurovision (1972)

In 1967 she received an offer to sing for Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song L'amour est bleu.

In 1972 she represented Luxembourg at Eurovision for the second time and won the contest with the song Après Toi.

Translated into English as Come What May it was also a hit in the UK reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart. Globally it sold over six million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.

Leandros recorded the song in seven languages. Later in the year she released her version of the Theodorakis composition O Kaymos (Sorrow) which became a hit all over the world in various language versions. It peaked at #40 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1973 When Bouzoukis Played became another massive selling world hit in several languages reaching #44 in the UK chart.

In 1974 she recorded Theo, wir fahr'n nach Lodz a song that was a #1 hit in Germany. She also found much success in South Africa during the 1970s.

Après toi was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 performed in French by Greek singer Vicky Leandros, representing Luxembourg.

The song was co-written by Leandros' father Leandros Papathanasiou, also known as Leo Leandros, under his pseudonym Mario Panas. This was Vicky Leandros' second entry in the Contest.

In 1967 she had finished fourth with L'amour est bleu, better known under its English title Love is Blue, which subsequently went on to become a worldwide hit when covered by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.

More information: All Music

Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi
J'avais appris rire
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi je ne serai que l'ombre
De ton ombre
Après toi.

The empty hands, the heart without joy
With you,
I had learned how to laugh
And my laughter comes only by you
After you, I will be only a shadow
Of your shadow
After you.
 

Vicky Leandros

 

Anne-Marie David (born 23 May 1952 in Arles, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France) is a French singer. She has represented both France and Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest.

David was born and raised in Arles. She started her musical career at age 18 in Paris when she became involved with musical theatre.

In 1972, she was cast in the role of Mary Magdalene in the French production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 1972 also saw her submit the song Un peu romantique to the French selection committee for the Eurovision Song Contest. It made the final shortlist of ten songs.

In 1973, she was selected to represent Luxembourg as the Grand Duchy sought to repeat its previous year's triumph on home soil in the Eurovision Song Contest. She thus joined the long list of non-native performers to have represented the country in the contest, which also includes France Gall (the 1965 winner) and Vicky Leandros (the 1972 winner).

Tu te reconnaîtras, sung in French by French singer Anne-Marie David representing Luxembourg, was the winning song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1973. I was the first time a country won the contest two years in succession without sharing the victory.

Anne-Marie David in Eurovision (1973)

Vicky Leandros had won the 1972 Contest for Luxembourg with Après toi and the 1973 edition was consequently held in the Luxembourgish capital. The voting was also a very close one, Luxembourg won with 129.

Tu te reconnaîtras is the only winning entry of Luxembourg, where not the artist, composer, lyricist and director all were from outside Luxembourg. Although both Anne-Marie David, the composer [Morgan], and the lyricist [Buggy], were all French, the conductor Pierre Cao was Luxembourger.

David recorded her winning entry in five languages; French, English Wonderful Dream, German as Du bist da, Spanish Te reconocerás and, very unusually, in two entirely different Italian translations, entitled Il letto del re and Non si vive di paura  respectively.

After the contest, she started touring the world. She lived in Turkey for a while, recorded two singles in Turkish and one album and received several awards in the country.

She returned to Eurovision in the 1979 contest held in Jerusalem, this time representing her native France with the song Je suis l'enfant soleil. Once again it was a tight three-way finish, with the Israeli entry Hallelujah edging to a home victory. She started to tour France in the 1980s.

Between 1982 and 1983, she continued her musical career in Norway. In 1987, she retired from music but returned in 2003.

In 2005, she sang at the festival for the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, staged in Copenhagen, where she performed the 1972 Eurovision winner Après toi.

More information: Eurovision TV

Dans les rêves de l'artiste
Que la gloire n'a jamais couronné
Dans ce monde égoïste
Qui renie ce qu'il a adoré.

In the artist's dreams
That glory has never crowned
In this selfish world
Who denies what he loved.
 

Anne-Marie David

 

Corinne Hermès (born Corinne Miller; 16 November 1961, Lagny-sur-Marne) is a French singer. She represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 where she won with Si la vie est cadeau with music by Jean-Pierre Millers and words by Alain Garcia.

Si la vie est cadeau by Jean-Pierre Millers (music) and Alain Garcia (lyrics), was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed in French by French singer Corinne Hermès for Luxembourg.

Corinne Hermès in Eurovision, 1983

The song is a dramatic ballad dealing with the wonder of life, likening it to a gift. The lyrics tell of the singer's suffering in love with a man; who promised her the whole world and did not follow through, what about the child I wanted to give to you in the spring?.

She then sings that any kind of gift is welcome, whether it be given, stolen or returned, and warns that the good times are too short, implying that the listener should savor them for all they are worth. Hermès also recorded the song in English and German, as Words of Love and Liebe gibt und nimmt respectively.

The song was performed 20th last on the night, following Belgium's Pas de Deux with Rendez-vous. At the close of voting, it had received 142 points, placing 1st in a field of 20.

The win brought Luxembourg equal with France on five Contest wins apiece, however both countries would later be eclipsed by the Republic of Ireland, which would win seven.

Compared to the previous year's Eurovision winners, Si la vie est cadeau only proved to be a moderate commercial success, peaking at #2 in France, #3 in Belgium, #12 in Ireland, #13 in Sweden, #14 in Switzerland, #31 in the Netherlands and failing to chart in most other European countries.

More information: Corinne Hermès

Mais le temps a tous les droits
Alors pourquoi m’avoir promis la terre entière
Et l’enfant qui n’est pas là?
C’est aujourd’hui mon seul bonheur imaginaire
Si la vie est cadeau.

But time has got all the rights
So, why having promised me the entire world?
And the child that is not there?
Now it is my only imaginary happiness
If life is a gift.
 

Corinne Hermès

FRANCE GALL & 'POUPÉE DE CIRE, POUPÉE DE SON'

France Gall, Eurovision, 1965

Today, The Grandma has been taking off Christmas ornaments. The festivity has finished and it is time to continue with working life. While she was putting some objects in a box, she has found a piece of newspaper that talked about France Gall, the French singer who won representing Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965 singing her popular song Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

France Gall died on a day like today only two years ago and The Grandma wants to homage her talking about her career.

Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall (9 October 1947-7 January 2018), better known by her stage name France Gall, was a French yé-yé singer. In 1965, aged 17, she won the Eurovision Song Contest. Between 1973 and 1992, she collaborated with singer-songwriter Michel Berger.

Gall was born in Paris on 9 October 1947, to a highly musical family. Her father, the lyricist Robert Gall, wrote songs for Édith Piaf and Charles Aznavour. Her mother, Cécileh Berthier, was a singer as well and the daughter of Paul Berthier, the co-founder of Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois. The only daughter of her family, she had two brothers: Patrice and Claude.

In spring 1963, Robert Gall encouraged his daughter to record songs and send the demos to the music publisher Denis Bourgeois. That July, she auditioned for Bourgeois at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, after which Bourgeois wanted to sign her immediately. France was subsequently signed to Philips.

More information: Baby Languages

At the time, Bourgeois was working for the label as artistic director for Serge Gainsbourg and assumed this role for Gall as well. He encouraged her to record four tracks with the French jazz musician, arranger and composer Alain Goraguer.

The first airplay of France's first single Ne sois pas si bête, occurred on her 16th birthday. It was released in November and became a hit, selling 200,000 copies. Gainsbourg, who had released several albums and written songs for singers including Michèle Arnaud and Juliette Gréco, was asked by Bourgeois to write songs for Gall. Gainsbourg's N'écoute pas les idoles was Gall's second single; it reached the top of the French charts in March 1964 and stayed there for three weeks.

At the same time, Gall made her live debut, opening for Sacha Distel in Belgium. She teamed up with Distel's business manager, Maurice Tézé, a lyricist, which allowed her to create an original repertoire, unlike the majority of her contemporaries who sang adaptations of Anglophone hits. Elaborate orchestrations by Alain Goraguer blended styles, permitting her to navigate between jazz, children's songs, and anything in between.

France Gall

Examples of this mixed-genre style included Jazz à gogo by Alain Goraguer and Robert Gall and Mes premières vraies vacances by Jacques Datin and Maurice Vidalin. 

Gall and Gainsbourg's association produced many popular singles, continuing through the summer of 1964 with the hit song Laisse tomber les filles followed by Christiansen by Datin-Vidalin. Gainsbourg also secretly recorded Gall's laughter to use on Pauvre Lola, a track on his 1964 album Gainsbourg Percussions.

Having previously resisted, Gall gave in to her managers at the end of 1964 and recorded a single intended for children. The song Sacré Charlemagne, written by her father, and set to the music of George Liferman, was a hit in 1965, peaking at number two in France and number five in Turkey.

Gall was then selected to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. From the ten songs proposed to her, she chose Gainsbourg's Poupée de cire, poupée de son.

On 20 March 1965, Gainsbourg, Gall, and Goraguer attended the finals of the song contest in Naples, where the song was allegedly booed in rehearsals for straying so far from the sort of song usually heard in the Contest at this point.

 

More information: Paroles Musique

Although the delivery during the live show may not have been Gall's strongest performance -one critic wrote that Gall's performance was far from perfect- another noted that her voice was out of tune and her complexion pale, and when Gall called Claude François, her lover at the time, immediately after the performance, he shouted at her, You sang off key. You were terrible! -the song impressed the jury and it took the Grand Prix.

Success at Eurovision ensured that Gall became even more known outside Europe and she recorded Poupée de cire, poupée de son in French, German, Italian and Japanese. There appears to be no English version released by France Gall, although there was an English cover version by the English 1960s star Twinkle.

France Gall

In 1965, Gall toured France for several months with Le Grand Cirque de France, a combination of radio show and live circus. Her singles continued to chart successfully, including the Gainsbourg-penned Attends ou va-t'en and Nous ne sommes pas des anges. She also had a hit with the song L'Amérique by Eddy Marnay and Guy Magenta.

After a TV film directed by Jean-Christophe Averty and dedicated to the songs of Gall was distributed in the United States in 1965, Gall was sought by Walt Disney to appear as Alice in a musical film version of Alice in Wonderland, after having already made Alice into a cartoon in 1951. Although Gall had insisted she did not want to become involved in film work, this was the only project which appealed to her. The project was cancelled after Disney's death in 1966.

In 1966, Gall appeared in the television film Viva Morandi, made in the same psychoanalytical mould as the (1965) Federico Fellini film Giulietta degli Spiriti. She played La Grâce alongside Christine Lebail, who played La Pureté, both singing Les Sucettes in a segment which was prominently labelled Fantasy, in a clear reference to the song's sexual undertones.

She considered appearing on screen in 1993 for a cinematographic collaboration with her best friend, screenwriter Telsche Boorman. This planned project was never completed due to Boorman's death in 1996. In a feature film, Gainsbourg Vie héroïque, released in France in January 2010, based on the graphic novel by writer-director Joann Sfar, Gall was portrayed by Sara Forestier. 

More information: All Music

In 1966, her children's song Les Leçons particulières was the subject of public notoriety and displeasure; the same occurred when Jean-Christophe Averty choreographed a troupe of men on all fours to illustrate another of her children's songs, J'ai retrouvé mon chien, on his television programme, Les Raisins verts.

Although struggling in her home country, Gall regularly recorded in Germany from 1966 to 1972, in particular with the composer and orchestrator Werner Müller. She had a successful German career with songs by Horst Buchholz and Giorgio Moroder. 

France Gall

Gall had several other releases in France in 1968, none of which aroused any great interest. At the end of 1968, on reaching the age of 21, Gall separated from Denis Bourgeois and spread her wings upon the expiration of her contract with Philips.

She moved to a new record label, La Compagnie, in 1969, with whom her father Robert signed a contract, where she made a number of recordings, but did not succeed in finding a coherent style with Norbert Saada as artistic director.

She went her own way in 1969 with two adaptations: one Italian and the other British: L'Orage/La Pioggia which she sang with Gigliola Cinquetti at the 1969 Sanremo Music Festival, and Les Années folles, created by Barbara Ruskin. Her songs Des gens bien élevés, La Manille et la révolution, Zozoï and Éléphants were largely ignored. La Compagnie went bankrupt within three years of its creation, co-founder and singer Hugues Aufray blaming the failure entirely on Norbert Saada.

The early seventies continued to be a barren period for Gall. Although she was the first artist to be recorded in France for Atlantic Records in 1971, her singles C'est cela l'amour (1971) and Chasse neige (1971), faltered in the charts.

In 1972, Gall, for the last time, recorded songs by Gainsbourg, Frankenstein and Les Petits ballons, but these also failed to chart. The results of her collaboration with Jean-Michel Rivat as artistic director, La Quatrieme chose (1972), Par plaisir and Plus haut que moi (1973) all failed to meet with commercial success. Gainsbourg invited France Gall on television to sing a medley of old songs from their time together, which included Poupee de cire, Poupee de son.

From the 1970s onwards, Gall started regularly visiting Senegal. She bought a hideaway there on the island of N'Gor, close to Dakar in 1990.

More information: DW

In 1985, Gall joined Chanteurs Sans Frontières, on the initiative of Valérie Lagrange. She also worked for S.O.S Ethiopie for the benefit of Ethiopia under the aegis of Renaud. At the same time, she gave a successful series of concerts lasting three weeks at the new venue Le Zénith in Paris, where she performed new songs like Débranche, Hong-Kong Star, and gave solid acoustic performances of Plus haut, Diego libre dans sa tête and Cézanne peint.

In 1985 and 1986, Gall worked with Berger, Richard Berry, Daniel Balavoine and Lionel Rotcage for the benefit of Action Écoles, an organisation of schoolboy volunteers which collects essential food products in France for African countries where famine and drought prevail.

On 14 January 1986, during a trip to Africa, Balavoine tragically perished in a helicopter crash.

In 1987, the song Évidemment, written by Berger and sung by Gall, was a moving homage to their lost friend. The song appeared on the album Babacar. Gall topped the pop charts in many countries in 1987 and 1988 with another song from the Babacar album, Ella, elle l'a, a Berger tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

In 1996, Gall asked Jean-Luc Godard to produce the video clip of her song Plus haut, taken from her album France. Godard initially refused, but later agreed, and directed a dreamy, picturesque video titled Plus Oh! near his residence in Rolle, Switzerland.

A long-term breast cancer survivor, Gall died, aged 70, of an infection after a two-year battle with a cancer of undisclosed primary origin, at the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine on 7 January 2018.

More information: The Guardian

What can you say about a society that says

God is dead and Elvis is alive?

France Gall

1944, BENELUX: BELGIUM, NETHERLANDS & LUXEMBOURG

Benelux

Today, The Grandma has read about Benelux, a union and formal international cooperation between Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg that was constituted on a day like today in 1944. The Grandma wants to visit these countries in a few months and she has thought that knowing more things about them is a good way to prepare her travel.

Before searching information about Benelux, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her Ms. Excel course.

Chapter 16. Excel Tables (V) (Spanish Version)

The Benelux Union, also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

The name Benelux is a portmanteau formed from joining the first two or three letters of each country's name -Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg- and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union, signed in 1944. It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic, economic and cultural grouping of the three countries.

Since 1944, when a customs union was introduced, cooperation among the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has been a firmly established practice. The initial form of economic cooperation expanded steadily over time, leading in 1958 to the signing of the Treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union.

More information: Benelux

Initially, the purpose of cooperation among the three partners was to put an end to customs barriers at their borders and ensure free movement of persons, goods and services among the three countries. It was the first example of international economic integration in Europe since the Second World War. The three countries therefore foreshadowed and provided the model for future European integration, such as the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community (EEC).

Manneken Pis, Brussels, Belgium

The three partners continue to play this pioneering role. They also launched the Schengen process, which came into operation in 1985, promoting it from the outset. 

Benelux cooperation has been constantly adapted and now goes much further than mere economic cooperation, extending to new and topical policy areas connected with security, sustainable development and the economy. Benelux models its cooperation on that of the European Union and is able to take up and pursue original ideas.

The Benelux countries also work together in the so called The Pentalateral Energy Forum a regional cooperation group formed of five members -the Benelux states, France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Formed ten years ago, the ministers for energy from the various countries represent a total of 200 million residents and 40% of the European electricity network.

On 17 June 2008 Belgium, in all its component parts, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed a new Benelux Treaty in The Hague. The purpose of the Benelux Union is to deepen and expand cooperation among the three countries so that it can continue its role as precursor within the European Union and strengthen and improve cross-border cooperation at every level. Through better cooperation between the countries the Benelux strives to promote the prosperity and welfare of the citizens of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

More information: Belgium

Benelux works together on the basis of an annual plan embedded in a four-year joint work programme.

Benelux seeks region-to-region cooperation, be it with France and Germany (North-Rhine-Westphalia) or beyond with the Baltic States, the Nordic Council, the Visegrad countries, or even further. In 2018 a renewed political declaration was adopted between Benelux and North-Rhine-Westphalia to give the cooperation a further impetus.

Some examples of recent results of Benelux cooperation: automatic level recognition of all diplomas and degrees within the Benelux, a new Benelux Treaty on Police cooperation, common road inspections and a Benelux pilot with digital consignment notes. The Benelux is also committed to working together on adaptation to climate change. In 2018, a Benelux Youth Parliament was created.

The main institutions of the Union are the Committee of Ministers, the Council of the Union, the General Secretariat, the InterParliamentary Consultative Council and the Benelux Court of Justice while the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property cover the same territory but are not part of the Benelux Union.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Benelux General Secretariat is located in Brussels. It is the central platform of the Benelux Union cooperation. It handles the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers, the Council of Benelux Union and the various committees and working parties. The General Secretariat provides day-to-day support for the Benelux cooperation on the substantive, procedural, diplomatic and logistical levels.

The presidency of the Benelux is held in turn by the three countries for a period of one year. Luxembourg holds the presidency in 2019.

In addition to cooperation based on a Treaty, there is also political cooperation in the Benelux context, including summits of the Benelux government leaders. In 2019 a Benelux summit was held in Luxembourg.

A Benelux Parliament, originally referred to as an Interparliamentary Consultative Council, was created in 1955. This parliamentary assembly is composed of 21 members of the Dutch parliament, 21 members of the Belgian national and regional parliaments, and 7 members of the Luxembourg parliament.

More information: Lonely Planet

On 20 January 2015, the governments of the three countries, including, as far as Belgium is concerned, the community and regional governments, signed in Brussels the Treaty of the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly. This treaty will enter into force on the 1st of August 2019. This means the 1955 Convention on the Consultative Interparliamentary Council for the Benelux expires. Moreover, the current official name has been largely obsolete in daily practice for a number of years now. Both internally in the Benelux and in external references, the name Benelux Parliament has been used de facto for a number of years now.

In 1944, exiled representatives of the three countries signed the London Customs Convention, the treaty that established the Benelux Customs Union. Ratified in 1947, the treaty was in force from 1948 until it was superseded by the Benelux Economic Union.

Lower City with Church, Luxembourg City

The treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union, Benelux Economische Unie, was signed on 3 February 1958 in The Hague and came into force on 1 November 1960 to promote the free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods in the region. Under the Treaty the Union implies the co-operation of economic, financial and social policies.

In 2017 the members of the Benelux, the Baltic Assembly, and three members of the Nordic Council (Sweden, Denmark and Finland), all EU-member states, sought intensifying cooperation in the Digital Single Market, as well as discussing social matters, the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union, the European migrant crisis and defence cooperation. Relations with Russia, Turkey and the United Kingdom was also on the agenda.

Since 2008 the Benelux Union works together with the German Land (state) North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2018 Benelux Union signed a declaration with France to strengthen cross-border cooperation.

More information: Government of Netherlands

In 2018 Education ministers from all three of Belgium's regions as well as from the Netherlands and Luxembourg have signed an agreement to recognise the level of all higher education diplomas between the three countries. This is unique in the EU. To continue studies or get a job in another country, applicants must get their locally earned degree recognised by the other country, which entails a lot of paperwork, fees and sometimes a months-long wait.

In 2015, the Benelux countries agreed to automatically recognise each other’s bachelor’s and master’s diplomas. Now that recognition is extended to PhDs and to so-called graduate degrees, which are earned from adult educational institutions. This means that a graduate of any of the three countries can continue their education or seek a job in the other countries without having to get their degree officially recognised.

The Treaty of Liège entered into force in 2017. As a result, Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg inspectors may carry out joint inspections of trucks and buses in the three countries. This treaty was signed in 2014 in Liège (Belgium) by the three countries. In the meantime, on the basis of a transitional regime and pending the entry into force of the Treaty, several major Benelux road transport inspections have taken place. Under this transition regime, inspectors from neighboring countries could only act as observers. Now they can exercise all of their skills.

Benelux Map

Co-operation on the basis of this Benelux Treaty leads to a more uniform control of road transport, cost reductions, more honest competition between transport companies and better working conditions for drivers. In addition, this cooperation strengthens general road safety in the three countries.

The Benelux Treaty seeks to intensify cooperation by improving the existing situation through intensive harmonisation of controls, exchange of equipment and training of personnel in order to reduce costs and by allowing inspectors of a country to participate in Inspections in another Benelux country by exercising all their powers, which in particular enables the expertise of the specialists in each country to be obtained. In so doing, they are fully committed to road safety for citizens and create a level playing field, so that entrepreneurs inside and outside the Benelux must comply with the same rules of control.

The application of the Treaty of Liège allows the three Benelux countries to play the role of forerunners in Europe. In addition, the treaty expressly provides for the possibility of accession of other countries.

The Treaty between the Benelux countries establishing the Benelux Economic Union was limited to a period of 50 years. During the following years, and even more so after the creation of the European Union, the Benelux cooperation focused on developing other fields of activity within a constantly changing international context.

More information: Lonely Planet

At the end of the 50 years, the governments of the three Benelux countries decided to renew the agreement, taking into account the new aspects of the Benelux-cooperation –such as security– and the new federal government structure of Belgium. The original establishing treaty, set to expire in 2010, was replaced by a new legal framework (called the Treaty revising the Treaty establishing the Benelux Economic Union), which was signed on 17 June 2008.

The new treaty has no set time limit and the name of the Benelux Economic Union changed to Benelux Union to reflect the broad scope on the union. The main objectives of the treaty are the continuation and enlargement of the cooperation between the three member states within a larger European context. 

The renewed treaty explicitly foresees the possibility that the Benelux countries will cooperate with other European member States or with regional cooperation structures. The new Benelux cooperation focuses on three main topics: internal market and economic union, sustainability, justice and internal affairs. The number of structures in the renewed Treaty has been reduced and thus simplified.

The Benelux Council

Five Benelux institutions remain: the Benelux Committee of Ministers, the Benelux Council, the Benelux Parliament, the Benelux Court of Justice, the Benelux Secretariat General. Beside these five institutions, the Benelux Organisation for Intellectual Property is also present in this Treaty as an independent organisation.

The Committee of Ministers is the supreme decision-making body of the Benelux. It includes at least one representative at ministerial level from the three countries. It composition varies according to its agenda. The ministers determine the orientations and priorities of Benelux cooperation. The presidency of the Committee rotates between the three countries on an annual basis.

The Council is composed of senior officials from the relevant ministries. It composition varies according to its agenda. The Council's main task is to prepare the dossiers for the ministers.

The Benelux Parliament comprises 49 representatives from the parliaments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Its members inform and advise their respective governments on all Benelux matters.

More information: Le Gouvernement du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

The Benelux Court of Justice is an international court. Its mission is to promote uniformity in the application of Benelux legislation. When faced with difficulty interpreting a common Benelux legal rule, national courts must seek an interpretive ruling from the Benelux Court, which subsequently renders a binding decision. The members of the Court are appointed from among the judges of the Cour de cassation of Belgium, the Hoge Raad of the Netherlands and the Cour de cassation of Luxemburg.

The General Secretariat, which is based in Brussels, forms the cooperation platform of the Benelux Union . It acts as the secretariat of the Committee of Ministers, the Council and various commissions and working groups. Because the General Secretariat operates under strict neutrality, it is perfectly placed to build bridges between the various partners and stakeholders.

The General Secretariat has years of expertise in the area of Benelux cooperation and is familiar with the policy agreements and differences between the three countries. Building on what already been achieved, the General Secretariat puts its knowledge, network and experience at the service of partners and stakeholders who endorse its mission. It initiates, supports and monitors cooperation results in the areas of economy, sustainability and security.

In a greatly enlarged European Union, Benelux cooperation is a source of inspiration for Europe.

More information: Lonely Planet

Autonomy leads to empowerment.

We work hard to maintain a balance

between collaboration and cooperation and independence.

Bobby Kotick