Douzelage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union.
The name Douzelage is a combination of the French words "douze" for twelve and "jumelage" for twinning and stands for the twelve founder members, one for each European Union member state in 1991, when the Douzelage Charter was signed in Granville (F).
Although the number of member states of the EU has grown the name Douzelage has been kept unchanged.
[edit] The aims of the Douzelage
The aims of the Douzelage are to promote and foster the spirit of Europe and to establish among others educational, economic, tourist, sporting and cultural links between the towns for the mutual benefit of the inhabitants thereof.
The official language used is English, partially also French. Douzelage is chaired by a president and two vice-presidents elected for a period of 3 years.
The Douzelage movement received European recognition in 1993 when it was honoured by the European Commission with the "Golden Stars of Twinning".
[edit] Member states
The founder members were:
- Altea, (Spain)
- Bad Kötzting, (Germany)
- Bellagio, (Italy)
- Bundoran, (Ireland)
- Granville, (France)
- Holstebro, (Denmark)
- Houffalize, (Belgium)
- Meerssen, (Netherlands)
- Niederanven, (Luxembourg)
- Preveza, (Greece)
- Sesimbra, (Portugal)
- Sherborne, (United Kingdom)
New towns have joined:
In a first step 5 new towns joined the Douzelage in 2004 in harmony with the European enlargement process:
