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A country of Western Europe, Belgium has a coastline on the North Sea but is otherwise surrounded by the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and France. It is characterized by the Ardennes in the southeast, and drained lowland plains by the rivers Meuse and Scheldt. Flemish is spoken mainly in Flanders in the north, and French and Walloon, a French dialect, in Wallonia in the south. Belgium made a rapid recovery after World War II and has made economic progress ever since. It became one of the Benelux countries, with the Netherlands and Luxembourg, in 1948. This, and the geography of its position, gave it significant influence in Europe, and it became a founder member of the European Union, with Brussels now providing the administrative headquarters of the organization.