The City of Bonn and its boroughs have a long tradition of twinning with European cities. This is because the districts of Bad Godesberg, Beuel, Bonn and Hardtberg had already established contacts and entered into partnerships as independent municipalities before the municipal reform of 1969.

The City of Bonn has held the title of "Europaaktive Kommune in Nordrhein-Westfalen" since 2013. Initially limited to five years, the award was presented again in 2018 with no time limit. With this title, the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia recognizes the exemplary municipal European work of the city of Bonn and its lasting commitment to the European idea.

The award is intended to publicize the many good examples of municipal European activities to promote the European idea and to show that Europe is part of everyday life in North Rhine-Westphalia. At the same time, the 47 award-winning cities, municipalities and districts in North Rhine-Westphalia can advertise their exemplary commitment to the outside world.

With the Erasmus+ funding programme, the European Union supports the activities of Bonn's city administration as part of the "Internationalization Strategy for Human Resources Development and Vocational Training of the City of Bonn". In the interests of the citizens, this creates a continuous exchange of experience between European municipalities, which makes an important contribution to overcoming the current political challenges.

The City of Bonn strengthens the intercultural competence of its managers, employees and trainees through the opportunity of a European internship. Over 30 EU project partner cities in 24 countries open their town hall doors to their colleagues from Bonn. The European Union is funding the "Nice to work with you!" project from its education budget. The municipal vocational training programme "EurOpen" organizes subject-related and group-oriented stays on topics such as inclusion, digitalization and citizen services.