The agreement on friendship and cooperation between Paris and Berlin was signed on 2 July 1987 as part of Berlin’s 750th anniversary celebration. As a special tribute to Berlin’s history, one leg of the Tour de France in the summer of 1987 took place in Berlin, and Jacques Chirac, then the mayor of Paris, came to Berlin for the race.
The two cities based their new partnership on the desire to strengthen the long-standing historical ties between them and enhance their relationship in the spirit of Franco-German friendship and European identity.
Along with traditional administrative cooperation in areas like environmental protection, urban development, and internal security, our cooperation is concentrated on youth projects, very active cultural exchange in a wide range of genres, and projects related to climate action, integration, and infrastructure. Key partners in carrying out the youth projects are the Franco-German Youth Office (Deutsch-Französisches Jugendwerk) and Centre Français de Berlin.
Our exchanges now include another important component: bilateral training projects for, for instance, young pastry chefs and for new professions related to renewable energy.
In 2022, Paris and Berlin celebrated the 35th anniversary of their partnership. The Governing Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey, visited Berlin’s partner city from 12 to 14 July 2022, accompanied by the Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, Stephan Schwarz, and around 35 members of a business delegation headed by the newly elected president of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK), Sebastian Stietzel. The overarching theme of the visit was “sustainable urban development.”
The program for the Governing Mayor’s two-day visit was varied and interesting. Highlights of her stay included the first meeting between Franziska Giffey and her Parisian counterpart, Anne Hidalgo, as well as the military parade celebrating the French national holiday, which she watched from the French president Emmanuel Macron’s reviewing stand.
Centre Français de Berlin, the Franco-German Youth Office, and the Berlin Senate Chancellery celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Paris-Berlin city partnership on 14 September 2022 with a German-French festival at Centre Français de Berlin. Admission was free, and about 500 people enjoyed the event’s colorful program. Governing Mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo opened the festivities together with the two secretaries-general of the Franco-German Youth Office and commended the hard work and commitment of Centre Français de Berlin. The cooperation between the two cities has enabled many young people from Paris and Berlin to meet each other, exchange ideas, and gain intercultural experience together. You can find out more at www.centre-francais.de.
On 15 September 2022, the two mayors took part in the international conference “Q Berlin: The new unknown”. Addressing the conference, they took on the new challenges posed by the climate and energy crisis, demographic change, social inequality, and the war in Ukraine with all its consequences for people in Europe and worldwide, and presented problem-solving approaches.