The Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL; en, "European Metropolis of Lille") is the ''

métropole A ''métropole'' (French for "metropolis") is an administrative entity in France, in which several communes cooperate, and which has the right to levy local tax, an ''établissement public de coopération intercommunale à fiscalité propre''. I ...

'', an intercommunal structure, composed by a network of big cities (

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

Roubaix Roubaix ( or ; nl, Robaais; vls, Roboais) is a city in northern France, located in the Lille metropolitan area on the Belgian border. It is a historically mono-industrial commune in the Nord department, which grew rapidly in the 19th century ...

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubai ...

Villeneuve d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area ( ...

, Armentières etc.) whose major city is the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. It is located in the Nord department, in the

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

– bordering both the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

and Walloon regions of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previous ''

Communauté urbaine Communauté urbaine (French for "urban community") is the second most integrated form of intercommunality in France, after the ''Metropolis'' (french: link=no, métropole). A ''communauté urbaine'' is composed of a city ( commune) and its indep ...

de Lille'', and covers that part of the Lille metropolitan area that lies in France. Its area is 671.9 km². Its population was 1,179,050 in 2019, of which 234,475 in Lille proper. The annual budget of the métropole is €1,865 billion (2018).

History

The urban community was founded in 1967 with its first president Augustin Laurent. Then, in 1971, Arthur Notebart, Deputy Mayor of Lomme, succeeded him until the election of Pierre Mauroy in 1989. After the March 2008 municipal elections, each city council sent delegates to the urban community, a total of 170 voting members. In April 2008, a new president was to be elected on a majority vote, defined at 816 votes. It caused for intense lobbying throughout the 85 cities and villages. One key issue was the investment priorities for the 2008/2014 period, namely transport, housing and the environment. The newly re-elected mayor of Lille, socialist

Martine Aubry Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor (France), Mayo ...

, tried to impose a new €800 million stadium in the eastern part of the community, which was opposed by three major mayors of her own party, who considered the project as misplaced and too expensive. On January 1, 2015, the métropole replaced the urban community in accordance with a law of January 2014. On January 1, 2017, the number of municipalities of the métropole increased from 85 to 90. It was expanded with the 5 communes of the former ''Communauté de communes de la Haute Deûle'' on 14 March 2020.Arrêté préfectoral
25 October 2019, p. 11

Responsibilities

Local public transport

The metropolitan community is responsible for the co-ordination of

Ilévia Ilévia is the public transport operator for the Lille Métropole, the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Lille in northern France. It operates a mixed system, comprising buses, trams and a driverless light metro system. The company is a s ...

, the private-sector company that operates a public transport network throughout the métropole. The network comprises

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, trams and a driverless

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

system, all of which are operated under the Transpole name. The

Lille Metro The Lille Metro (french: Métro de Lille) is a driverless light metro system located in Lille, France. It was opened on 25 April 1983 and was the first to use the VAL (french: véhicule automatique léger, en, light automated vehicle) syst ...

is a VAL system (''véhicule automatique léger'' = light automated vehicle) that opened on 16 May 1983, becoming the first automatic metro line in the world. The metro system has two lines, with a total length of 45 km and 60 stations. The tram system consists of two interurban tram lines, connecting central Lille to the nearby communities of

and

, and has 45 stops. 68 urban bus routes cover the metropolis, 8 of which reach into Belgium.

Cross-border issues

The metropolitan community encompasses only the French part of the metropolitan area of Lille. The other part of the metropolitan area is on

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

territory and outside of the scope of the metropolis. The Eurometropolis Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai is a transnational structure founded on 28 January 2008 to overcome this problem. This community crosses borders and connect

with the nearby

cities

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

Mouscron Mouscron (; Dutch and vls, Moeskroen, ; Picard and Walloon: ''Moucron'') is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, along the border with the French city of Tourcoing, which is part of the Lille metropol ...

and

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Euromet ...

Communes

Métropole Européenne de Lille consists of the following 95 communes:Métropole Européenne de Lille (N° SIREN : 200093201)
BANATICIntercommunalité-Métropole de Métropole Européenne de Lille (200093201)
INSEE # Allennes-les-Marais # Annœullin # Anstaing # Armentières #

Aubers Aubers () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is west of Lille. The parish church is dedicated to St Vaast. It was the site of a major World War I battle, the Battle of Aubers, during 1915. Aubers is twinned with the E ...

Baisieux Baisieux () is a commune in the Nord department, northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord d ...

La Bassée La Bassée () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry Personalities La Bassée was the birthplace of the painter and draftsman Louis-Léopold Boilly (1761–1845). Another native was Ignace François ...

Bauvin Bauvin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is southwest of Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French ...

# Beaucamps-Ligny #

Bois-Grenier Bois-Grenier () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Located south of Armentières and bordering with the department of Pas-de-Calais. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a li ...

# Bondues #

Bousbecque Bousbecque (; nl, Busbeke / Boesbeke) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry See also * Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the Fr ...

# Bouvines #

Capinghem Capinghem (; archaic ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord de ...

# Carnin # La Chapelle-d'Armentières #

Chéreng Chéreng () is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry Twinning Chereng is twinned with East Peckham, Kent, United Kingdom. See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the ...

# Comines #

Croix Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort depa ...

Deûlémont Deûlémont (; from nl, Deulemonde) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Situated at the confluence of the rivers Deûle and Lys, it is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord d ...

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

Emmerin Emmerin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

# Englos # Ennetières-en-Weppes # Erquinghem-le-Sec #

Erquinghem-Lys Erquinghem-Lys () is a commune situated in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Erquinghem is one of a series of villages on the river Lys established by the Viking Rikiwulf in 880 AD at the ...

# Escobecques # Faches-Thumesnil # Forest-sur-Marque #

Fournes-en-Weppes Fournes-en-Weppes () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Hitler spent half of his war time service in World War I here. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department ...

# Frelinghien #

Fretin Fretin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is in the south of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Fretin junction It contains the ''Fretin triangle'', a high speed flying junction joining the HSL 1 railway line from B ...

Fromelles Fromelles () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. it had a population of 1,041; its inhabitants are called ''Fromellois''. It is located about to the west of Lille. First World War The village of Fromelles was captured by a ...

Gruson Gruson () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

# Hallennes-lez-Haubourdin #

Halluin Halluin (; nl, Halewijn) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Geography It is located at the north of the Métropole Européenne de Lille, on the Belgian border, contiguous with the Belgian town of Menen. Population Tran ...

# Hantay #

Haubourdin Haubourdin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord ...

Hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the g ...

Herlies Herlies () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

# Houplin-Ancoisne #

Houplines Houplines (; nl, Opline) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Adjoining the communal (village) cemetery is the Houplines Communal Cemetery Extension, a Commonwealth War Grav ...

# Illies #

Lambersart Lambersart () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. This commune is located in the Métropole Européenne de Lille, and is a suburb of the city of Lille, bordering it on its northwest side. Inhabitants of the town are called ...

# Lannoy # Le Maisnil #

Leers Leers (, ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille, and is about northeast of Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list o ...

Lesquin Lesquin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Population Heraldry Economy When Flandre Air existed, it had its head office at Lille Airport and in Lesquin. On 30 March 2001 Flandre, Proteus Airlines, and Regional Airl ...

Lezennes Lezennes () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in ...

# Linselles # Lompret # Loos #

Lys-lez-Lannoy Lys-lez-Lannoy (, literally ''Lys near Lannoy''; West Flemish: ''Lis by Lannoy'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord ...

# La Madeleine #

Marcq-en-Barœul Marcq-en-Barœul (; pcd, Marke-in-Bareul; older nl, Marke) is a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * C ...

Marquette-lez-Lille Marquette-lez-Lille (, literally ''Marquette near Lille''; Dutch: ''Market(t)e'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Monuments * Grands Moulins de Paris Her ...

# Marquillies #

Mons-en-Barœul Mons-en-Barœul () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is a suburb of the city of Lille, and is adjacent to it on the northeast. The name Mons-en-Barœul means mount in the Barœul, the city is built on a slight hill; th ...

Mouvaux Mouvaux (; nl, Mouvouw) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry Twin towns – sister cities Mouvaux is twinned with: * Buckingham, England, United Ki ...

Neuville-en-Ferrain Neuville-en-Ferrain () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of ...

Noyelles-lès-Seclin Noyelles-lès-Seclin (, literally ''Noyelles near Seclin'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list ...

Pérenchies Pérenchies (; nl, Perensijs) is a Communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry People from Pér ...

Péronne-en-Mélantois Péronne-en-Mélantois () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord ...

# Prémesques #

Provin Provin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic. The communes cooperate in the ...

Quesnoy-sur-Deûle Quesnoy-sur-Deûle (, literally ''Quesnoy on Deûle''; vls, Kiezenet) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department ...

# Radinghem-en-Weppes #

Ronchin Ronchin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France (Hauts-de-France). It is part of the European Metropolis of Lille. Population Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes ...

Roncq Roncq (; nl, Ronk) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is from the border with Belgium. Population Heraldry Twin towns It is twinned with Todmorden in Britain, Delbrück in Germany, and Selinkegny in Mali. See ...

# Sailly-lez-Lannoy #

Sainghin-en-Mélantois Sainghin-en-Mélantois (; nl, Singem) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry Economy Part of the Lesquin Regional Transport Center is located in the municipalit ...

# Sainghin-en-Weppes #

Saint-André-lez-Lille Saint-André-lez-Lille (, literally ''Saint-André near Lille''; Dutch: ''Sint-Andries'' or ''Sint-Andries-Rijsel'') is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Heraldr ...

# Salomé # Santes #

Seclin Seclin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Population Notable residents * Andre Ayew, Ghana national football team footballer *Victor Mollet, architect *Jonathan Rouss ...

# Sequedin #

Templemars Templemars () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The commune has the head office of Castorama.Toufflers #

Tressin Tressin () is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department of ...

Vendeville Vendeville () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry See also *Communes of the Nord department The following is a list of the 648 communes of the Nord department ...

# Verlinghem #

Villeneuve-d'Ascq Villeneuve-d'Ascq (; pcd, Neuvile-Ask) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. With more than 60,000 inhabitants and 50,000 students, it is one of the main cities of the Métropole Européenne de Lille and the largest in area (2 ...

Wambrechies Wambrechies (; vls, Wemmersijs; pcd, Vamberchi) is a commune in the Nord department, in the region Hauts-de-France, in northern France. It is part of the European Metropolis of Lille. It has a population of around 10,600 (2019). Geography Wa ...

# Warneton #

Wasquehal Wasquehal (traditional pronunciation ; currently common pronunciation ) is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. The town originally had a Flemish name; it was written as ''Waskenhal'' in the 11th century. Geography Wasquehal ha ...

Wattignies Wattignies (; nl, Wattenijs) is a commune in the Nord department of northern France. It lies in the south-western part of the Lille conurbation. It covers an area of , and as of 2019 its population was 15,075. Neighboring communes Lille, Fac ...

Wattrelos Wattrelos (; archaic ) is a commune in the Nord department in the Nord-Pas de Calais region of northern France. It is located on the border with Belgium, northeast of the city of Lille. The fifth-largest component of the Métropole Européenne ...

Wavrin Wavrin () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. It was established around the year . It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. Heraldry Population People * Jean de Waurin See also *Communes of the Nord department ...

Wervicq-Sud Wervicq-Sud (; ) is a commune in the Nord department of northern France, near the border with Belgium. Wervicq-Sud is one of the oldest villages still existent, dating back to Roman times. The town is separated from its Belgian Flemish sister t ...

# Wicres # Willems

References

External links

European Metropolis of Lille website

Communautés urbaines et métropoles de France
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metropolitan Lille

1967 establishments in France