Graduate motionless beside European fortress (8)
I believe the answer is:
bastille
'fortress' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'graduate motionless beside european' is the wordplay.
'graduate' becomes 'ba' (someone with a Bachelor of Arts degree).
'motionless' becomes 'still' (synonyms).
'beside' says to put letters next to each other (I've seen this in other clues).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'ba'+'still'+'e'='BASTILLE'
(Other definitions for bastille that I've seen before include "Former Parisian prison" , "Notorious Paris prison stormed in French revolution" , "Paris prison stormed at the start of the French Revolution" , "French fortress" , "Parisian fortress" .)