Political Status
Twenty institutions have their sole, or one of their main, seats in Strasbourg. Due to this concentration in such a small area, Strasbourg, like Brussels, claims the title of "capital of Europe". While Brussels is the capital city of a trilingual State, Belgium, 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). Strasbourg also has the distinction of being one of only three cities to host major international institutions without being a capital (the others being New York City and Geneva).
In Brussels' case, it claims the title through referring 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' 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 and Council in that city).
In 2005, the urban area of Greater Strasbourg formed a small political community (known as the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict) consisting of some common administration with its neighbouring German Ortenau district in Baden-Württemberg on the opposite side of the Rhine. The combined population of this district was 868,000 as of 2006 and there are plans to extend the Strasbourg trams across the Rhine into these areas.
Read more about this topic: European Institutions In Strasbourg
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or status:
“What drivel it all is!... A string of words called religion. Another string of words called philosophy. Half a dozen other strings called political ideals. And all the words either ambiguous or meaningless. And people getting so excited about them they’ll murder their neighbours for using a word they don’t happen to like. A word that probably doesn’t mean as much as a good belch. Just a noise without even the excuse of gas on the stomach.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Recent studies that have investigated maternal satisfaction have found this to be a better prediction of mother-child interaction than work status alone. More important for the overall quality of interaction with their children than simply whether the mother works or not, these studies suggest, is how satisfied the mother is with her role as worker or homemaker. Satisfied women are consistently more warm, involved, playful, stimulating and effective with their children than unsatisfied women.”
—Alison Clarke-Stewart (20th century)