Languages of the European Union which is understood by 51% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages, but in practice only two – English and French – are in wide general use and of these English is the more commonly used. French is an official language in all three of the cities that are political centres of the Union: Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France) and Luxembourg City (Luxembourg). , the official languages of the European Union, as stipulated in the latest amendment of "Regulation No 1
European institutions in Strasbourg while Strasbourg (with the Council of Europe) refers to the continent as a whole. In regards to the European Union, Strasbourg sometimes claims to be the 'democratic' or 'legislative' capital (due to the presence of the Parliament) while classing Brussels as the 'administrative' or 'executive' capital (due to the presence of the European Commission and Council in that city). In 2005, the urban area of Greater Strasbourg formed a small political community (known as the Strasbourg-Ortenau Eurodistrict) consisting of some common administration with its neighbouring German Ortenau district in Baden-Württemberg on the opposite side of the Rhine. The combined population