European Collectivity of Alsace

The European Collectivity of Alsace (French: Collectivité européenne d'Alsace; Alsatian: D'Europäischa Gebiatskärwerschàft Elsàss; German: Europäische Gebietskörperschaft Elsass[6]) is a territorial collectivity in the Alsace region of France. On 1 January 2021, the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin merged into a territorial collectivity but remained part of the region Grand-Est. The creation of this new entity was voted by the French Parliament on 25 July 2019 and Law 2019-816 delimiting its powers was promulgated on 2 August 2019.[2][7]

European Collectivity of Alsace

Collectivité européenne d'Alsace (fr)
Logo
StatusCollectivity of the French Republic
Capital
and largest city
Strasbourg
48°35′N 7°45′E
Official languageFrench
Regional languagesAlsatian
Welche
Meridional Frankish
Rhine Frankish
Demonym(s)Alsatian
Government
• President of the departmental council
Frédéric Bierry[1]
LegislatureDepartmental Council of Alsace
Establishment
• Creation
1 January 2021[2]
Area
• Total
8,280 km2 (3,200 sq mi)
Population
• 2020 estimate
1,895,811[3]
• 2017 census
1,889,589[4][5]
ISO 3166 codeFR-A

Alsatian voters had already voted in favour of the creation of a single territorial collectivity in a referendum in 2013; however, in the less populous of the two departments, Haut-Rhin, a majority of voters had rejected the proposal.[8]

History
Main article: History of Alsace

The original Region of Alsace, created in 1956, ceased to exist on 1 January 2016 when the French parliament voted to merge some administrative regions, reducing their number from 22 to 18.[9]

Status

Alsace has an intermediary status: its competencies are the ones of a department, plus some of a region. Alsace is therefore less autonomous than Corsica or the overseas departments and regions.

Languages
Further information: Language policy of France

While French is the sole official language of the country according to Article 2 of the Constitution of France, Law 2019-816 contains provisions to promote regional languages at school. The collectivity will also be tasked to create a Committee related to the German language in Alsace. This last provision is closely related to Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 of the Aachen Treaty.

References
  1. https://www.alsace.eu/actualites/resultat-l-election-president-collectivite-europeenne-d-alsace/
  2. Government of the French Republic (2 August 2019). "LOI n° 2019-816 du 2 août 2019 relative aux compétences de la Collectivité européenne d'Alsace". legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  3. National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (14 January 2020). "Estimation de la population au 1ᵉʳ janvier 2020". insee.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  4. Combined 2017 population of the departements of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin.
  5. National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (30 December 2019). "Populations légales des départements en 2017". insee.fr (in French). Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  6. "Aus zwei mach eins". Eurojournalist(e) (in German). 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2020-10-26.
  7. "The government validates the creation of a "European collectivity of Alsace" in 2021". Teller Report. 29 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  8. "Echec du référendum alsacien : "Un signe fort pour la classe politique en place"". Le Monde (in French). 7 April 2013. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  9. "Le 1er janvier, la France passe à 13 régions en métropole". Le Point (in French). 30 December 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2020.

European Collectivity of Alsace

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