Portal:Belgium/Selected article/2007/March

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, [bʁysɛl], and sometimes [bʁyksɛl] by non-Belgian speakers of French; Dutch: Brussel, [ˈbrʏsəl]; German: Brüssel, [ˈbʁʏsəl]) is the capital of Belgium, of the French Community of Belgium, of the Flemish Community, and is the headquarters of the European Union's institutions (and thus often considered 'The Capital of Europe').

Brussels is the capital city, in the centre of Belgium, and also the largest municipality of the Brussels-Capital Region. This municipality inside Brussels is correctly named The City of Brussels (French: Bruxelles-Ville or Ville de Bruxelles, Dutch: Stad Brussel), which is one of 19 municipalities that make up the Brussels-Capital Region (see also: Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region), with a total population of 1,018,804 inhabitants (1 January 2006). The municipality has a population of about 140,000. The Metropolitan area has about 2,090,000 inhabitants.

Brussels is also the political seat of NATO, the Western European Union (WEU) and EUROCONTROL, the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation (see: Political center, below).