Beschreibung der Einrichtung

Covering an area of 240 km², with a population exceeding 860,000, & counting 5,000 newcomers every year, Marseille is the second largest city of France after Paris.

Both a host city and a city for immigrants, established 2,600 years ago by Greek sailors, this Phocean city, over the course of time, has created a strong identity and benefits from this very multiculturalism. After a significant period of de-industrialization, Marseille invested in its natural potential and further enhanced this by developing robust economic sectors of activity with high employment creation: the knowledge economy, culture, tourism, trade, property construction... Marseille has equipped itself with the resources required to fully assume the role of a Euro-Mediterranean capital.

Marseille is a city that opens out naturally onto the World. This international focus has paved the way to the implementation and development of decentralized cooperative agreements, city-twinning programs, playing host to foreign delegations, the implementation of mainly European-funded decentralized cooperation projects, hosting international events and meetings, or indeed developing and managing themed Mediterranean-focused networks in conjunction with the World Bank.

For a multiple-facetted city such as Marseille, the European Year of Culture in 2013 provided the opportunity for visitors to discover the full richness of this city. Within this spirit, exceptional venues, adapted for cultural programs of such a European stature, opened to the public. Then, Marseille obtained the label of "European Capital of Sports 2017". The Phocean city has grasped this new opportunity to develop both the national and international appeal of its surroundings. Marseille took advantage of this development to, strengthen, and develop the notion of "sport for all". This bid allowed the sports sector, public authorities, business and educational sector, inspired by the values of sharing, togetherness, and exceeding personal boundaries, to unite around a collective process.

Culture, sport, the international spread of so many ambitious projects and attractions, this is what has encouraged Marseille City Council to become involved in the European Volunteer Service (SVE) since 2014 and then to the European Solidarity Corps until today.

Very active on the international scene, the City of Marseille has sealed ties, particularly through 14 twinning arrangements: Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Antwerp (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark), Dakar (Senegal), Genoa (Italy), Glasgow (Scotland), Haifa (Israel), Hamburg (Germany), Kobe (Japan), Marrakech (Morocco), Odessa (Ukraine), Piraeus (Greece), Shanghai (China), Tunis (Tunisia); and 22 cooperation agreements: Agadir (Morocco), Alexandria (Egypt), Algiers (Algeria), Bamako (Mali), Barcelona (Spain), Beirut (Lebanon), Casablanca (Morocco), Erevan (Armenia), Gdansk (Poland), Istanbul (Turkey), Jerusalem (Israel), Limassol (Cyprus), Lomé (Togo), Mekhnès (Morocco), Montevideo (Uruguay), Rabat (Morocco), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina), Sousse (Tunisia), Tirana (Albania) ), Tripoli (Lebanon And Al Fayhaa Urban Community), Valparaiso (Chile), Varna (Bulgaria).

These partnerships most often translate into exchanges of know-how and, if necessary, on the centers of excellence of the Phocean city such as water, green transition and climate action, urban engineering, prevention and risk management, health, sport, NTIC, tourism, economic development and culture.

To maintain and strengthen its bonds of trust with foreign cities with which it has developed cooperation or even animated dormant cooperation, Marseille wishes to make youth one of its priority actions at the international level due to its universal, unifying and forward-looking nature. Marseille wants to anchor its international action in a structured and sustainable way within the various systems institutions responding to national and European priorities of which young people are a part.

The International and European Relations Department of the City of Marseille has also implemented a very active European policy aimed at:
- identifying all possible routes to funding with the framework of the European Union regional policies
- submissions for European tenders within the framework of the Community programes. These enable expertise, knowledge and solutions to be shared in relation to economic, social or environmental issues with other cities across the globe.

Today, the new municipality places a strong emphasis on the return of nature to the city and the preservation of ecosystems with a proactive environmental policy. In addition, greater participatory democracy is at the heart of municipal concerns for greater justice for all citizens, including the most disadvantaged. Indeed, ecological transition, digital transition as well as culture and education are the keys of new issues to act towards a city that is fairer, greener and more democratic.