3 February – Treaty creating Benelux Economic Union signed, to come into force 1 November 1960, providing for free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.[3]
17 April – King Baudouin opens Expo 58, the first major World's Fair since the Second World War.[4]: 184 John Carl Studder of El Paso, Texas, had queued for 48 hours to be the first visitor admitted.[2]: 904
May
18 May
Demonstration of about 200,000 marches through Brussels to protest the Socialist government's education policy.[2]: 904
25 September – Belgian government intervenes to reduce the price of Belgian coal, with 7,855,000 tonnes stockpiled but uncompetitively expensive on international markets.[2]: 906
6 November – Political agreement reached on post-war reforms to educational policy, ending a period of contention known as the "Second School War".
28 November – Patrice Lumumba declares in Léopoldville that "Independence is not a gift of Belgium but a fundamental right of the Congolese people."[2]: 904
Nature documentaryLes Seigneurs de la forêt[2]: 907 – English version with narration by Orson Welles distributed internationally by 20th Century Fox as Lords of the Forest (UK) or Masters of the Congo Jungle (US)
