European Institutions in Strasbourg - History and Institutions

History and Institutions

The first European institution to be based in the city was the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine. Set up in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, it is the oldest international organisation in the world but has only been based in Strasbourg since 1920 (headquarters located in the Palais du Rhin). Its function is to encourage European prosperity by guaranteeing a high level of security for navigation of the Rhine and environs.

However the bulk of the European presence in Strasbourg comes from the post-Second World War establishment of institutions. The move towards European integration 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 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), as well as the European Coal and Steel Community (later the European Union). 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.

One of the main impulses of making Strasbourg into the seat of numerous European institutions came from British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, 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."