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The Euro-Institut is a Franco-German non-profit organisation based in Kehl (Germany) whose mission is to facilitate cross-border cooperation in the Franco-German-Swiss Upper Rhine Region. The Euro-Institut is both a concrete example of cross-border cooperation through its operating model and a support structure for cooperation through its activities. The binational aspect extends to the entire functioning of the structure. It has been created in 1993 by the Land of Baden-Württemberg, the French Republic, the Alsace Region (now Grand Est), the Department of Lower Rhine, the Urban Community (now Eurometropolis) of Strasbourg, the City of Kehl, the Robert Schuman University (now University of Strasbourg) and the University of Applied Sciences Kehl (initiator of the project). The Ortenaukreis joined in 1996. Constituting the supervisory board, these members gather twice a year as a decision-making body. The repartition of the votes respects a strict equality between the German and French members. The management and the team are also binational.

At first created under the legal form of a European Economic Interest Grouping (EEIG) through the Interreg I and II programs, it became in 2003 a concrete application of the Karlsruhe Agreement, the first Local Grouping for Cross-Border Cooperation (LGCC) seated in Baden-Württemberg. Its financing is also cross-border, as it is supported by its members as well as by the services it sells.

The Euro-Institut’s activities include training, counselling, support, research and networking. While they are addressed primarily to French, German and Swiss public officials, they may...