“Strasbourg, European capital, will be central to the events of the French Presidency of the European Union”, which will take place from 1 January to 30 June 2022, announced the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, last Wednesday when they presented the main objectives of this Presidency to the Council of Ministers.
The French Presidency will be managed by a Secretariat-General which will provide a logistical coordination function and will be based in Paris under the authority of the Prime Minister. “It could be built according to the keywords ‘relaunch, power and belonging’”, says the text shared on Twitter by Clément Beaune. As for Strasbourg, it “will host the most emblematic moments of the Conference on the Future of Europe”.
Fabienne Keller, who has been Mayor of Strasbourg and is currently an MEP and member of the Renew Europe group, to which the French presidential party belongs, welcomed “the government’s renewed commitment to affirming the European dimension of the city, seat of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, the beating heart of democracy”. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)