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There are a range of European institutions in
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
(France), the oldest of which dates back to 1815. In all, there are more than twenty different institutions based in the Alsatian city.List of international institutions in Strasbourg


Area

The European Quarter is spread over an area covering the districts of Wacken, Orangerie and Robertsau in the north-west of the city and comprising the intersection of the River Ill and the Marne-Rhine Canal. The first specific European building in the area was the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
's House of Europe in 1949, with the Rhine Commission being located towards the centre of the city. The Audiovisual Observatory and the Institute for Human Rights are the only institutions in the quarter to have moved into pre-existing premises: a 1900 villa and an 18th-century former postal relay station and inn turned conventual building, respectively. The Arte headquarters, previously disseminated on several buildings across the town, were united in a single spacious building close to the Louise Weiss building in 2003. November 2007 saw the extension of the Strasbourg tramway into the European Quarter, with the inauguration by
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
president Hans-Gert Pöttering, CoE Secretary general Terry Davis and
Eurocorps Eurocorps, located in the French city of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), is a multinational corps headquarters. Founded by France and Germany in 1992, it is today composed of personnel from six framework nations and five associated nations. The framework ...
Lieutenant General Pedro Pitarch of the ''Parlement européen'', ''Droits de l'homme'' and ''Robertsau Boecklin'' tram stations. The newest Council of Europe buildings were inaugurated in 2006 and 2008, and the newest European Union building was inaugurated in 2017. In all, there are fourteen different buildings in the European Quarter: seven belonging to the Council of Europe, five belonging to the European Union, plus Arte and the IIHR.


History and institutions

The first European institution to be based in the city was the
Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine The Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR; french: link=no, Commission centrale pour la navigation du Rhin; german: link=no, Zentralkommission für die Rheinschifffahrt; nl, link=no, Centrale Commissie voor de Rijnvaart) is an ...
. Set up in 1815 by the
Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
, it is the oldest
international organisation An international organization or international organisation (see spelling differences), also known as an intergovernmental organization or an international institution, is a stable set of norms and rules meant to govern the behavior of states an ...
in the world but has only been based in Strasbourg since 1920 (headquarters located in the
Palais du Rhin The Palais du Rhin ( en, Palace of the Rhine), the former ''Kaiserpalast'' (Imperial palace), is a building situated in the German (north-east) quarter of Strasbourg ( Neustadt) dominating the '' Place de la République'' (the former ''Kaiserplatz' ...
). Its function is to encourage European prosperity by guaranteeing a high level of security for navigation of the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
and environs. However the bulk of the European presence in Strasbourg comes from the post-
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
establishment of institutions. The move towards
European integration European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and its ...
pushed for the creation of new bodies. The first of these to be established was the International Commission on Civil Status, founded in 1948 and predating the
Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
by a few months. The progressive establishment of a peaceful, unified and prosperous Europe then followed through the founding of the Council of Europe, and its related bodies (such as the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
), as well as the
European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemb ...
(later the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
). Both the Council of Europe and the European Union increasingly work together, notably to enforce the Council of Europe's
European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by ...
. One of the main impulses of making Strasbourg into the seat of numerous European institutions came from
British Foreign Minister The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in th ...
, one of whose closest advisors had a daughter who had studied in the city. While Bevin publicly acknowledged that the multi-cultural, multi-confessionnal aspect of the city as well as its geographic situation in the heart of (western) Europe were the criteria on which it was chosen, he privately gave a completely different reason: "Strasbourg? Perfect, no one will go there."


Council of Europe

The Council of Europe has eight buildings in the district; its main building used to be shared with the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the Legislature, legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven Institutions of the European Union, institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and in ...
. The first building to be completed was the House of Europe, inaugurated in 1950 but torn down in 1977 when it was replaced by the current
Palace of Europe The Palace of Europe (french: Palais de l'Europe) is a building located in Strasbourg, France, that has served as the seat of the Council of Europe since 1977 when it replaced the "House of Europe". Between 1977 and 1999 it was also the Strasbour ...
. The Palace of Europe and the
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
Villa Schutzenberger (built 1897–1900, seat of the
European Audiovisual Observatory The European Audiovisual Observatory (french: italic=no, Observatoire européen de l’audiovisuel, german: italic=no, Europäische Audiovisuelle Informationsstelle) is a public service organisation, part of the Council of Europe set up in 1992 ...
) are located in the Orangerie district, the European Youth Centre is located in the Wacken district and the
European Court of Human Rights building The building of the European Court of Human Rights is located in the European Quarter of Strasbourg, France. It was designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership and Claude Buche and was completed in 1994. The building is located on the eastern ...
(built 1989–1995), the
European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) is a Directorate of the Council of Europe that traces its origins and statutes to the ''Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia'' (an international treat ...
(inaugurated in 2006) and the Agora building (the General Office Building) are situated in the Robertsau district. The Agora building has been voted "best international business center real estate project of 2007" (on 13 March 2008 at
MIPIM MIPIM (in French, Le Marché International des Professionnels de L’immobilier) is an international property event hosted in Cannes, France, each March. It is hosted by Reed MIDEM and includes an exhibition area, networking events and conference ...
2008) and marked the provisional end of new building by the Council of Europe (Agora was officially inaugurated on 17 April 2008 by French minister for Foreign Affairs
Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner KBE (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs ...
). Due to persistent budgetary shortages, it was reported in 2010 that the Council of Europe was expected to cut down significantly the number of its activities, and thus the number of its employees, from 2011 onwards. This was expected to notably affect the economy of the city of Strasbourg.


European Parliament

The European Parliament has five buildings in the quarter. It previously used the hemicycle of the Council of Europe to hold its meetings until 1999 when it completed its main building, the Louise Weiss building, across the river from the Palace of Europe. It is connected by a bridge to its older office buildings, Pierre Pflimlin, Winston Churchill and Salvador de Madariaga, which are spread out in a broad half circle around the Palace of Europe. The Václav Havel building, inaugurated on 5 July 2017, was originally built in 1955 for the Council of Europe, which used it as "Building B" until 2007. In 2012, it was bought by the European Parliament, which renovated it thoroughly, completely transforming its appearance.


Controversy

The location of Parliament has caused some controversy, as its work takes place not only in Strasbourg but also in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
and
Luxembourg City Luxembourg ( lb, Lëtzebuerg; french: Luxembourg; german: Luxemburg), also known as Luxembourg City ( lb, Stad Lëtzebuerg, link=no or ; french: Ville de Luxembourg, link=no; german: Stadt Luxemburg, link=no or ), is the capital city of the Gr ...
. The split arrangement has caused financial, environmental and practical difficulties, with the Strasbourg location usually (though not universally) being cited as the extraneous location rather than Brussels.


European studies

The
École nationale d'administration The École nationale d'administration (generally referred to as ENA, en, National School of Administration) was a French ''grande école'', created in 1945 by President Charles de Gaulle and principal author of the 1958 Constitution Michel Deb ...
, founded in 1945 in Paris, was moved to Strasbourg by
decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used ...
in 1991 and permanently established there in 2005 (although the headquarters had been transferred from the start, the students had to spend half of their annual curricula in either city until that date). In the course of its refocusing on European governance, it merged with the Centre d'études européennes de Strasbourg (Center for European Studies, CEES) of the
University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...
and subtitled itself ''École européenne de gouvernance'' (European Governance School). Another related academic institution is the Institut des hautes études européennes (IHEE), located in the Art Nouveau former Villa Knopf (built 1903–1905), close to the Parliament and the CoE. This school was founded in 1953 and was then called ''Centre universitaire des hautes études européennes'' (University Center for higher European Studies).


Accredited European School

The European School of Strasbourg was inaugurated by French education minister
Xavier Darcos Xavier Darcos (born 14 July 1947) is a French politician, scholar, civil servant and former Minister of Labour. An ''agrégé'' professor in literature and general inspector of the National Education system, he has been Mayor of Périgueux, ...
on 4 September 2008. It is the first of the Accredited European Schools, offering the European Baccalaureate as its secondary leaving qualification, to have been established in France.


Information relays

Strasbourg also serves as the seat of diverse information relays of the European Union, such as the Information Centre on European Institutions (CIIE), the Euro-Info Centre (EIC), the
MEDIA Antenna Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
and the
European Documentation Centre A European Documentation Centre (EDC) is a body designated by the European Commission to collect and disseminate publications of the European Union for the purposes of research and education. There are 400 such centers in all member states of the ...
(EDC) as well as the European Job Mobility Portal, the
EURES EURES (European Employment Services) is a cooperation network formed by public employment services. It is an agency of the EU set up to facilitate employment mobility among the member states and it maintains a database of jobs The city also hosted the automated computerised network
Schengen Information System The Schengen Information System (SIS) is a governmental database maintained by the European Commission. The SIS is used by 31 European countries to find information about individuals and entities for the purposes of national security, border c ...
and currently hosts the central unit of its new version, the Schengen Information System II, a back-up unit being located in
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.


Other bodies

Other bodies based in the city, most of them unrelated either to the Council of Europe or the European Union but working in more or less close association with them, are: International Commission on Civil Status,
Eurocorps Eurocorps, located in the French city of Strasbourg (Bas-Rhin), is a multinational corps headquarters. Founded by France and Germany in 1992, it is today composed of personnel from six framework nations and five associated nations. The framework ...
(created in 1993), the International Institute of Human Rights (founded in 1969), the
European Science Foundation The European Science Foundation (ESF) is an association of 11 member organizations devoted to scientific research in 8 European countries. ESF is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organisation that promotes the highest quality science ...
(founded in 1974),
EuroScience EuroScience (the founding organisation of ESOF, EuroScience Open Forum) is a pan-European grassroots organisation for the support and promotion of science and technology in Europe. The membership of EuroScience consists of individuals interested in ...
(founded in 1997), the
Assembly of European Regions The Assembly of European Regions (AER) is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe. Bringing together regions from 35 countries and 15 interregional organisations, AER is a forum for interregional cooperation. Histori ...
(established in 1985) and the
Human Frontier Science Program } The International Human Frontier Science Program Organization (HFSPO) is a non-profit organization, based in Strasbourg, France, that funds basic research in life sciences. The organization implements the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) and ...
(conceived in 1986, launched in 1989). Strasbourg is also, since its inception in 1991, the main seat of the Franco-German television channel
Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
. Starting from its establishing date on 1 December 2012, also the new European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA) has his operational HQ in Strasbourg. Finally, Strasbourg also hosts the association Apollonia (created in 1998), which defines itself as "a platform of cooperation in the area of the visual arts between European countries and, more specifically, with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the countries along the Baltic Sea and in the South Caucasus." The association was created on the basis of work conducted since 1994 by the Council of Europe within the framework of the Program of European Artistic Exchanges.


Political status

Twenty institutions have their sole seat, or one of their main seats, in Strasbourg. Due to this concentration in such a small area, Strasbourg, like
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, claims the title of "capital of Europe". While Brussels is the capital city of the trilingual state of
Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
, Strasbourg has had long periods of rule by both France or Germany, assimilating both of their cultures and languages (it also has the
Alsatian language Alsatian ( gsw-FR, Elsässisch, links=no or "Alsatian German"; Lorraine Franconian: ''Elsässerdeitsch''; french: Alsacien; german: Elsässisch or ) is the group of Alemannic German dialects spoken in most of Alsace, a formerly disputed regi ...
). Strasbourg also has the distinction of being one of only four cities to host major international institutions without being a capital (the others being New York City,
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
and
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
). Brussels claims the title of "Capital of Europe" in reference to the European Union, while Strasbourg (with the Council of Europe) refers to the continent as a whole. In regards to the European Union, Strasbourg sometimes claims to be the 'democratic' or '
legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
' capital (due to the presence of the Parliament) while classing Brussels as the ' administrative' or 'executive' capital (due to the presence of the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
and
Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/ shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...
in that city). In 2005, the urban area of Greater Strasbourg formed a small political community (known as the
Strasbourg-Ortenau The Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau is a Franco-German eurodistrict, a cross-border administrative entity (''European Grouping for Territorial Cooperation'') sharing common institutions, established on 17 October 2005 and definitely functional sin ...
Eurodistrict) consisting of some common administration with its neighbouring German Ortenau district in Baden-Württemberg on the opposite side of the
Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...
. The combined population of this district was 868,000 as of 2006Figures on the Eurodistrict's website
and there are plans to extend the Strasbourg trams across the Rhine into these areas.


See also

*
Brussels and the European Union Brussels (Belgium) is considered the ''de facto'' capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the offici ...


References


External links


Europe in Strasbourg360° interactive view of the European Quarter
{{coord, 48.5961, N, 7.7715, E, source:wikidata, display=title Council of Europe Institutions of the European Union Organizations based in Strasbourg