European Parliament in Luxembourg granted a city the right to host a number bodies, including the Secretariat of the Assembly (now of the Parliament). Despite the 1965 agreement however, the Parliament's seat was a source of contention. Wishing to be closer to the activities in Brussels and Luxembourg, a few plenary sessions were held by the Parliament between 1967 and 1981 in Luxembourg instead of Strasbourg – against the wishes of France and in 1981 it returned to holding sessions entirely in Strasbourg. There are a handful of buildings in Luxembourg used by the Parliament. The city hosts the Secretariat of the European Parliament
European institutions in Strasbourg on 17 April 2008 by French minister for Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner). Due to persistent budgetary shortages, it was reported in 2010 that the Council of Europe was expected to cut down significantly the number of its activities, and thus the number of its employees, from 2011 onwards. This was expected to notably affect the economy of the city of Strasbourg. The European Parliament has five buildings in the quarter. It previously used the hemicycle of the Council of Europe to hold its meetings until 1999 when it completed its main building, the Louise Weiss building, across the river from