The Dutch Presidency of the European Union in the first six months of 2016 was largely based in Amsterdam, at the Marine Etablissement, the capital city's historical naval dockyard. This location – which is currently well-designed for security and has good transport links by road with Schiphol Airport – was the site of ministerial councils and other meetings, with the festive highlights being held at the nearby National Maritime Museum (Scheepvaartmuseum). Incidentally, the European Councils and other European institutions remained in their usual locations – which, in most cases, will be Brussels. According to Iver Neumann, author of Diplomatic Sites (2013), the choice of these locations and the way that they are designed is all part of the art of diplomacy, i.e. serves to facilitate and maintain international political ties. Politicians tend to perform the most visible roles on this pre-planned diplomatic stage.

In the dominant diplomatic tradition, diplomacy forms part of the system of nation states and is largely confined to the capital cities (disregarding the unique situation in the Netherlands, where there is a split between Amsterdam as capital city and The Hague as the seat of government). The average capital city tends to have a fairly clearly-delineated area in which political functions are concentrated, with prominent addresses for the head of state and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who play the main roles in official dealings with the members of the local diplomatic corps. Partly for this same reason, embassies tend to all be based in the same area.

Incidentally, in the history of Europe, it took a considerable amount of time before state diplomacy assumed the classic form which is now considered the leading tradition. It is curious that the key diplomatic entities from before that time – cities and the Pope – now are once again reprising this role, for example when it comes to issues such as climate change. They are even joining forces to do so, with NGOs, which act as an additional force, mobilising awareness and support. Their public meeting in July 2015 in the Vatican ended in an ‘agreement’, but was clearly also intended to point the way for the UN Climate Change Conference, dominated by nation states, held in Paris in late 2015.