Locations
The institutions are not concentrated in a single capital city: they are instead based across three cities, Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. The current arrangement was agreed in 1992 and attached to the Treaty of Amsterdam. The treaty states that the Commission and Council would be based in Brussels, the Courts in Luxembourg and the Parliament in Strasbourg. However some departments of the Commission and meetings of the Council take place in Luxembourg, while the Parliament has its committees and some sessions in Brussels and its secretariat in Luxembourg. Of the new institutions, the Central Bank is based in Frankfurt while the European Council is based in Brussels (but has some extraordinary meetings elsewhere).
Brussels' hosting of institutions has made it a major centre for the EU. Together with NATO it has attracted more journalists and ambassadors than Washington D.C. However the three-city agreement has come under some criticism, notably in regards to the Parliament due to the large number of people that move between the cities. The European Green Party estimated that the arrangement costs 200 million euro and 20,268 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Brussels is preferred by some due to the presence of other institutions and other groups while Strasbourg is supported due to its historical importance to European unity.
Read more about this topic: Institutions Of The European Union