Franco-Welsh twin towns in Loire-Atlantique

The department of Loire-Atlantique (6 815 km2) is three times smaller than Wales (20 768 km2). Their population has the same proportions roughly: 1,234,089 inhabitants in Loire-Atlantique compared to 2,903,085 Welsh. Twelve towns of the department, representing 405,181 inhabitants, are twinned with towns in Wales, gathering 391,000 inhabitants.

Twinnings in France

The first twinning of a French city was carried out between Orleans (Loiret) and Dundee (Scotland, GB), in 1946. The French Territorial Administration Act (1992-06-02), Part 4: decentralized co-operation, has aknowledged and authorized these exchanges between cities under the term "decentralized co-operation", by subjecting them to two constraints: respect of international commitments of the French Republic and limited powers to local communities.

According to the French Association of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (AFCCRE), there were 5,535 European towns twinned with France, as January 1st, 2003. Franco British twinnings are second position.