? Paris is a city; so logically you could ask "which city is next to Paris"; to situate Paris: Paris is a French city in the "département "Ile de France"", France is a centralized country divided into different "départements"; countries (states if you wish) surrounding France (republic), member state of the European Union, are Belgium (federal monarchy), Luxemburg (grand dûché), Germany (federal republic), Switserland (confederation), Italy (republic), Spain (monarchy), United Kingdom (monarchy; Wales and England are the U.K.-regions, "states" neighbouring France)