European institutions in Strasbourg seats in Strasbourg. Due to this concentration in such a small area, Strasbourg, like Brussels, claims the title of "capital of Europe". While Brussels is the capital city of a trilingual State, Belgium, Strasbourg has had long periods of rule by both France or Germany, assimilating both of their cultures and languages (it also has the Alsatian language). Strasbourg also has the distinction of being one of only three cities to host major international institutions without being a capital (the others being New York City and Geneva). In Brussels' case, it claims the title through referring to the European Union,
European institutions in Strasbourg as the seat of diverse information relays of the European Union, such as the Information Centre on European Institutions (CIIE), the Euro-Info Centre (EIC), the MEDIA Antenna and the European Documentation Centre (EDC) as well as the European Job Mobility Portal, the EURES network. The city also hosted the automated computerised network Schengen Information System and currently hosts the central unit of its new version, the Schengen Information System II, a back-up unit being located in Austria. Other bodies based in the city, most of them unrelated either to the Council of Europe or the European Union but working in