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Image:Council of Europe.jpg The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg
FoundingThe Council of Europe was founded following a speech given by Winston Churchill at the University of Zürich on 19 September, 1946 (text of speech) calling for a "United States of Europe", similar to the United States of America, in the wake of the events of World War II. The Council was officially founded on 5 May 1949 by the Treaty of London, which established the Council of Europe. The Treaty of London was signed by ten states: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Image:Hyesseurope.gif This coin issued by the Central Bank of Armenia commemorates Armenia joining the Council of Europe (January 25,2001). AimsArticle 1(a) of the Statute states:
InstitutionsThe institutions of the Council of Europe are:
The CoE system also includes a number of autonomous structures known as "partial agreements". Among them:
SymbolsImage:CEO flag.svg Council of Europe Logo The Council of Europe is responsible for the notable European flag with 12 golden stars (upward pointing) arranged in a circle on a blue background since 1955, and the anthem based on the Ode to Joy in the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth symphony since 1972. In 1964, it established the anniversary of its founding on 5 May 1949 as Europe Day. (The EU has also designated a Europe Day - May 9. See European Symbols.) To avoid confusion with the European Union, which uses the same flag, the Council often uses a modified version with a stylised lower-case 'e' in the centre of the stars which is referred to as the 'Council of Europe Logo' [1]. MembershipImage:Council of Europe map.png Council of Europe membership ten founding members joined subsequently observer at the Parliamentary Assembly observer at the Committee of Ministers official candidate Today, there are 46 member states, including nearly every European state. The only European countries without membership are the Holy See (which generally stays out of many international organizations by choice), Montenegro (which has only recently split from Serbia and Montenegro) and Belarus (which was denied membership due to a lack of democratic principles), although the latter two are official candidates. Upon foundation on May 5, 1949 there were ten members: Members with later admission dates (sorted by date of admission):
The Parliament of Image:Flag of Belarus.svg 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 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." [2]. Belarus applied for full membership on 12 March 1993 (still open). Following its declaration of independence on 3 June 2006, Image:Flag of Montenegro.svg Montenegro submitted a request to accede to (join) the Council of Europe. The Committee of Ministers transmitted the request to the Parliamentary Assembly for opinion, in accordance with the usual procedure.[3] On 14 June 2006, the Committee of Ministers declared that the Image:Flag of Serbia (state) (bordered).svg Republic of Serbia will continue the membership of the Image:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro.svg State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.[4] Image:Flag of Kazakhstan.svg 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. The Image:Wappen Vatikanstadt.png Holy See has observer status at the Committee of Ministers since 1970. Some non-European states also have observer status at Council of Europe institutions:
Membership of Germany and SaarlandIn 1950 Image:Flag of Germany.svg West Germany and Image:Flag of Saar.svg Saarland became associate members. West Germany became a full member in 1951. Saarland withdrew from its independent membership in 1956. Saarland then integrated back into West Germany in 1957. Image:Flag of East Germany.svg East Germany never became a member, but its citizens gained representation in 1990 due to German reunification. References
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