Jan 3, 2007, 13:39 GMT
Paris - Following the admission on January 1 of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union, the Union's new geographical centre is now located near the German city of Frankfurt, France's National Geographic Institute (IGN) said Wednesday.
The new centre is located on a hilltop in the region of Hesse, not far from Frankfurt. According to the IGN's calculations, its coordinates are 9 degrees 9 minutes longitude East and 50 degrees 10 minutes 21 seconds latitude North.
It is located within a quadrilateral formed by the communities of Niedermittlau, Bernbach, Luetzelhausen and Meerholz, at an altitude of 250 metres on a hill called the Niedermittlauer Heiligenkopf, the IGN said.
The previous centre of the EU had been the German community of Kleinmaischeid, some 20 kilometres north of the city of Coblenz.
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