Douzelage

The name is a portmanteau of the French words "douze" for twelve and "jumelage" for twinning and stands for the twelve founder members, one for each European Union member state in 1991, when the Douzelage Charter was signed in Granville, France. Although the membership of the EU, and of the association, has grown, the name Douzelage has been kept unchanged.

The aims of the Douzelage are to promote and foster the spirit of Europe and to establish among others educational, economic, tourist, sporting and cultural links between the towns for the mutual benefit of the inhabitants thereof. Douzelage is chaired by a president and two vice-presidents, all elected for a period of three years. The official language used is English, partially also French.

The Douzelage movement received European recognition in 1993 when it was honoured by the European Commission with the "Golden Stars of Twinning".

Following Brexit in 2020, the English town of Sherborne is no longer situated in an EU-member state. However, a 2018 Douzelage document states that the town "must not have any consequences related to the Brexit and continue as a member of Douzelage European Town Twinning", and as such has remained a member.

Douzelage Youth

Douzelage Youth is a program that brings together young people from Douzelage member cities with a similar purpose to the main Douzelage organization.

The original 12 founding members were:

• Altea, Spain
• Bad Kötzting, Germany
• Bellagio, Italy
• Bundoran, Ireland
• Granville, France
• Holstebro, Denmark
• Houffalize, Belgium
• Meerssen, Netherlands
• Niederanven, Luxembourg
• Preveza, Greece
• Sesimbra, Portugal
• Sherborne, England, United Kingdom

Towns that joined later are:

• Karkkila, Finland (1997-2016)
• Oxelösund, Sweden (1998)
• Judenburg, Austria (1999)

In a first step of further expansion, five new towns joined the Douzelage in harmony with the European enlargement process:

• Chojna, Poland (2004)
• Kőszeg, Hungary (2004)
• Sigulda, Latvia (2004)
• Sušice, Czech Republic (2004)
• Türi, Estonia (2004)

Since 2007, eight further towns have joined the organisation:

• Zvolen, Slovakia (2007)
• Prienai, Lithuania (2008-2018)
• Marsaskala, Malta (2009)
• Siret, Romania (2010)
• Agros, Cyprus (2011)
• Škofja Loka, Slovenia (2011)
• Tryavna, Bulgaria (2011)
• Rovinj, Croatia (2016)

In 2016, Finland changed its member:

• Asikkala, Finland (2016)

In 2018, Lithuania changed its member:

• Rokiškis, Lithuania (2018)