Council of Europe

In 1945, at the end of the second World War, Europe was marked by unprecedented devastation and human suffering. It faced new political challenges, in particular reconciliation among the peoples of Europe. This situation favoured the long held idea of European integration through the creation of common institutions.

In his famous speech at the University of Zurich in 1946, Sir Winston Churchill called for a United States of Europe and the creation of a Council of Europe.

At a specific congress of more than a thousand government representatives, politicians and civil society in The Hague in 1948, the future structure of the Council of Europe was discussed. There were two schools of thought competing: some favoured a classical international organisation with representatives of governments, while others preferred a political forum with parliamentarians. Both approaches were finally combined through the creation of the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly under the Statute of the Council of Europe of 1949.

This dual governmental/parliamentary approach was also kept for the European Communities later, which were organisations separate from the Council of Europe, but whose Assemblies met in Strasbourg in the Palace of Europe of the Council of Europe until they were transformed into the directly elected European Parliament of the European Union and a separate building was built in Strasbourg.

The Council of Europe was founded on 1949-05-05 by the Treaty of London. The Statute of the Council of Europe was signed in London on that day by ten states: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Many states followed, especially after the democratic transitions in central and eastern Europe during the early 1990s, and the Council of Europe now integrates nearly all states of Europe.

Article 1(a) of the Statute states that "The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress." Therefore, membership is open to all European states which seek European integration, accept the principle of the rule of law and are able and willing to guarantee democracy, fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The Council of Europe's most important achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, which created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The Court supervises compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and thus functions as the highest European court for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The wide activities and achievements of the Council of Europe can be found in detail on its official website. In a nutshell, the Council of Europe works in the following areas:

• Protection of democracy through election monitoring by its Parliamentary Assembly and assistance in democratic reforms, in particular by the Venice Commission.

• Protection of the rule of law and fostering legal co-operation through some 200 conventions and other treaties, including such leading instruments as the Convention on Cybercrime, the conventions on the suppression and prevention of terrorism, the conventions against corruption and organised crime, and the convention on bioethics.

• Protection of human rights, notably through:
  • the European Convention on Human Rights
  • the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
  • social rights under the European Social Charter
  • linguistic rights under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
  • minority rights under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
  • Media freedom under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Transfrontier Television

• Promotion of cultural co-operation and diversity under the Council of Europe's Cultural Convention of 1954 and several conventions on the protection of cultural heritage as well as through its Centre for Modern Languages in Graz, Austria and its North-South Centre in Lisbon, Portugal.

• Promotion of the right to education under Article 2 of the first Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights and several conventions on the recognition of university studies and diplomas (see also Bologna Process).

• Promotion of fair sport through the Anti-doping Convention and the convention against spectator violence.

• Promotion of European youth exchanges and co-operation through European Youth Centres in Strasbourg and Budapest, Hungary.

The institutions of the Council of Europe are:

• The Secretary General, who is elected for a term of five years by the Parliamentary Assembly and heads the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.
• The Committee of Ministers, comprising the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of all 47 member states who are represented by their Permanent Representatives and Ambassadors accredited to the Council of Europe. In the second half of 2007, the Committee of Ministers is chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. Committee of Ministers' presidencies are held in alphabetical order for six months following the English alphabet.
• The Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), which comprises national parliamentarians from all member states and elects its President - generally for up to three years.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe (Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe), which was created in 1994 and comprises political representatives from local and regional authorities in all member states.
• The European Court of Human Rights, created under the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950, is composed of a judge from each member state elected for a renewable term of six years by the Parliamentary Assembly and is headed by the elected President of the Court. Under the new Protocol No. 14 to the European Convention on Human Rights, the terms of office of judges shall be nine years but non-renewable. All member states except Russia have signed and ratified Protocol No. 14.
• The Commissioner for Human Rights, who is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly for a non-renewable term of six years since the creation of this position in 1999.
• Information Offices of the Council of Europe in many member states.

The CoE system also includes a number of autonomous structures known as "partial agreements". Among them:

• The European Audiovisual Observatory
• The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines
• The Pompidou Group - Cooperation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs
• The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission
• The Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO).
• In 2007, a new partial agreement on sport was established, which is open to accession by states and sport associations.

The Council of Europe created and uses as its official symbols the famous European Flag with 12 golden stars arranged in a circle on a blue background since 1955, and the European anthem based on the Ode to Joy in the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth symphony since 1972. On 1964-05-05 - the 25th anniversary of its founding, the Council of Europe established 5 MayasEurope Day.^[1]

The European Flag is not protected by copyright, but its wide private and public use is instead encouraged to symbolise a European dimension. To avoid confusion with the European Union which subsequently adopted the same flag in the 1980s. as well as other European institutions, the Council of Europe often uses a modified version with a lower-case 'e' in the centre of the stars which is referred to as the "Council of Europe Logo".^[2][1]

The Council of Europe has 47 member states in the European region (with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Cyprus also extending into Western Asia and Russia into North Asia). With the exception of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the Vatican City all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe.

Upon foundation on 1949-05-05 there were ten members:

In 1950, then West Germany and French-occupied Saarland became associate members. (West) Germany became a full member in 1951, while the Saarland withdrew from its associate membership in 1956. Saarland was then reintegrated with (West) Germany through a referendum in 1957. The Soviet-occupied eastern part of Germany and later East Germany never became a member of the Council of Europe like other East Bloc countries. Following German reunification in 1990, eastern Germans became part of Germany and thus gained representation in the Council of Europe.^[3]

Subsequent members by date of admission:

^a West Germany until 1990.
^b Joined under the provisional reference "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (including quotation marks).^[4] Turkey recognises the country with its constitutional name.
^c Originally joined as Serbia and Montenegro.

Following its declaration of independence on 3 June 2006, Montenegro submitted a request to accede to the Council of Europe. The Committee of Ministers transmitted the request to the Parliamentary Assembly for opinion, in accordance with the usual procedure.^[5]Eleven days later, on 14 June 2006, the Committee of Ministers declared that the Republic of Serbia would continue the membership of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.^[6] On 11 May 2007, Montenegro joined the Council of Europe as 47th member state.

The Parliament of Belarus held special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly from September 1992 to January 1997, but this has been suspended as a consequence of the November 1996 constitutional referendum and parliament by-elections which the CoE found to be undemocratic, as well as limits on democratic freedoms such as freedom of expression (cf. Belarusian media) under the authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko. The constitution changed by the referendum "does not respect minimum democratic standards and violates the principles of separation of powers and the rule of law.^[7]. Belarus applied for full membership on 1993-03-12 (still open).

Kazakhstan applied for observer status at the Parliamentary Assembly in 1999. The official response of PACE was that Kazakhstan could apply for full membership, because it is partially located in Europe, but that it would not be granted any status whatsoever at CoE until its democracy and human rights records improved.

Canada, Japan, Mexico, the U.S. and the Holy See have observer status with the Council of Europe and the parliaments of Canada, Israel and Mexico have observer status with its Parliamentary Assembly.

The Council of Europe works mainly through conventions. By drafting conventions or international treaties, common legal standards are set for its member states. However, several conventions have also been opened for signature to non-member states. Important examples are the Convention on Cybercrime, the Anti-doping Convention and the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. Non-member states also participate in several partial agreements, such as the Venice Commission and the European Pharmacopoeia.

Since 1994, the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe assembles locally and regionally elected representatives from all member states. The most influential instruments of the Council of Europe in this field are the European Charter of Local Self-Government of 1985 and the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities of 1980.

NGOs can participate in the INGO Conference of the Council of Europe and become observers to inter-governmental committees of experts. The Council of Europe drafted the European Convention on the Recognition of the Legal Personality of International Non-Governmental Organisations in 1986, which sets the legal basis for the existence and work of NGOs in Europe. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of association, which is also a fundamental norm for NGOs.

Cooperation between the European Union and the Council of Europe has recently been reinforced, notably on culture and education as well as on the international enforcement of justice and Human Rights^[8]. The European Union is expected to accede to the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention). At their Warsaw Summit in 2005, the Heads of State and Government of all Council of Europe member states reiterated their desire for the EU to accede without delay to ensure consistent human rights protection across Europe. There are also concerns about consistency in case law - the European Court of Justice (the EU's court in Luxembourg) is treating the Convention as part of the legal system of all EU member states in order to prevent conflict between its judgements and those of the European Court of Human Rights (the court in Strasbourg interpreting the Convention). Protocol No.14 of the Convention is designed to allow the EU to accede to the it and the EU Reform Treaty contains a protocol binding the EU to joining. The EU would thus be subject to its human rights law and external monitoring as its member states are currently. It is further proposed that the EU join as a member of the Council of Europe once it has attained its legal personality in the Reform Treaty, possibly in 2010.^[9][10]

• Europe
• European Union
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

• Official site
• Statute of the Council of Europe
• Eurominority map of minorities, native peoples and ethnic groups
• European NAvigator Council of Europe
• Armenia, Azerbaijan join Council of Europe
• Cornish Bureau for European Relations - CoBER