Which city is the proposed capital of the European Union?

Brussels is commonly described as the proposed or de facto capital of the European Union. It hosts the principal headquarters of several EU institutions, including the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, and the European Council.

The wording matters because the European Union does not have a formally designated capital city in the same way that France has Paris or the United States has Washington, D.C. Instead, EU institutions are distributed among several cities. Strasbourg is the official seat of the European Parliament, while Luxembourg hosts important judicial and administrative bodies.

Brussels became the practical center of European decision-making because many of the institutions and supporting diplomatic missions are concentrated there. The city is also the capital of Belgium and one of the country's three regions. This institutional concentration is why Brussels is often called the EU's capital, even though Strasbourg and Luxembourg remain essential parts of the Union's political geography.