Council of Europe

The Council of Europe (/kɔ̃sɛj də løʁɔp/) is an international organization of 46 member states in the European region (with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia and Cyprus also extending into Southwest Asia and Russia into North Asia). Its most enduring legacy is the European Convention on Human Rights, adopted in 1950, which serves as the basis for the European Court of Human Rights. English and French are its two official languages.

The seat of the Council of Europe is in Strasbourg on the Franco-German border. Originally meeting in Strasbourg's University Palace, it is now domiciled in the Palace of Europe about two kilometres from city centre. Membership is open to all European democracies which accept the principle of the rule of law and guarantee fundamental human rights and freedoms to their citizens.

The Council of Europe should not be confused with the Council of the European Union or the European Council, as it is a separate organization and not part of the European Union.

Founding

The 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.

Aims

Article 1(a) of the Statute states:

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.

The Council concentrates on the following areas:

• Protection of democracy and the rule of law
• Protection of human rights, notably:
  • Social rights, with the European Social Charter
  • Linguistic rights, with the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
  • Media freedom, with the European Convention on Human Rights
• Promotion of Europe's cultural identity and diversity, with the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
• Monitoring member states' compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and promoting human rights through the office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
• Addressing problems facing European society including discrimination, xenophobia, environmental degradation, AIDS, drugs and organised crime
• Encouraging democratic stability via reform.

Institutions

The institutions of the Council of Europe are:

• The Secretariat and the Secretary-General
• The Committee of Ministers
• The Parliamentary Assembly (PACE)
• The Congress of local and regional authorities of Europe (Congress)
• The European Court of Human Rights
• The Commissioner for Human Rights

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

• 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).

Symbols

Main article: European symbols

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].

Membership

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:

•  Belgium

• Image:Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark

•  France

•  Ireland

•  Italy

• Image:Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg

• Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands

• Image:Flag of Norway.svg Norway

• Image:Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden

•  United Kingdom

Members with later admission dates (sorted by date of admission):

•  Greece (9 August 1949)
• Image:Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey (9 August 1949)
• Image:Flag of Iceland.svg Iceland (9 March 1950)
•  Germany (13 July 1950) (West Germany until 1990)
• Image:Flag of Austria.svg Austria (16 April 1956)
• Image:Flag of Cyprus (bordered).svg Cyprus (24 May 1961)
• Image:Flag of Switzerland.svg Switzerland (6 May 1963)
• Image:Flag of Malta (bordered).svg Malta (29 April 1965)
•  Portugal (22 September 1976)
•  Spain (24 November 1977)
• Image:Flag of Liechtenstein.svg Liechtenstein (23 November 1978)
• Image:Flag of San Marino (bordered).svg San Marino (16 November 1988)
• Image:Flag of Finland (bordered).svg Finland (5 May 1989)
• Image:Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary (6 November 1990)
•  Poland (26 November 1991)
• Image:Flag of Bulgaria (bordered).svg Bulgaria (7 May 1992)
• Image:Flag of Estonia (bordered).svg Estonia (14 May 1993)
• Image:Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania (14 May 1993)
• Image:Flag of Slovenia (bordered).svg Slovenia (14 May 1993)
• Image:Flag of the Czech Republic (bordered).svg Czech Republic (30 June 1993)
• Image:Flag of Slovakia (bordered).svg Slovakia (30 June 1993)
• Image:Flag of Romania.svg Romania (7 October 1993)
• Image:Flag of Andorra.svg Andorra (10 October 1994)
• Image:Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia (10 February 1995)
• Image:Flag of Albania.svg Albania (13 July 1995)
• Image:Flag of Moldova.svg Moldova (13 July 1995)
• Image:Flag of Macedonia.svg Republic of Macedonia (9 November 1995) (referred to as former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
• Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine (9 November 1995)
•  Russia (28 February 1996)
• Image:Flag of Croatia.svg Croatia (6 November 1996)
• Image:Flag of Georgia (bordered).svg Georgia (27 April 1999)
• Image:Flag of Armenia.svg Armenia (25 January 2001)
• Image:Flag of Azerbaijan.svg Azerbaijan (25 January 2001)
• Image:Flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina.svg Bosnia and Herzegovina (24 April 2002)
• Image:Flag of Serbia (state) (bordered).svg Serbia (3 April 2003) (originally joined as Image:Flag of Serbia and Montenegro.svg Serbia and Montenegro, continued by Serbia 2006)
• Image:Flag of Monaco (bordered).svg Monaco (5 October 2004)

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:

 Japan and the  United States have observer status at the Committee of Ministers.

 Israel has observer status at the Parliamentary Assembly.

 Canada and  Earth have observer status at both the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.

Membership of Germany and Saarland

In 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.

See note 4

References

See also

• 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

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