History and Establishment:
– French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand proposed a European organization in 1929.
– Winston Churchill supported the idea of a Council of Europe in 1943 and 1946.
– The Treaty of London in 1949 officially established the Council of Europe.
– The first plenary session took place in Strasbourg in 1949.
Structure and Institutions:
– The Council of Europe has 46 member states.
– It operates with an annual budget of approximately 500 million euros.
– Key bodies include the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.
– The European Court of Human Rights is a significant body within the Council.
Location, Languages, and Relationships:
– Headquarters and the European Court of Human Rights are in Strasbourg, France.
– English and French are the official languages.
– The Council of Europe is distinct from the European Union.
– No country has joined the EU without first being a member of the Council of Europe.
Achievements and Aims:
– Aims to achieve greater unity among members and safeguard common ideals.
– Membership is open to European states upholding democracy and human rights.
– Key achievement is the European Convention on Human Rights.
Protection of Human Rights and Promotion of Cooperation:
– The European Court of Human Rights supervises compliance with the European Convention.
– Council of Europe works in areas like legal cooperation, human rights, and democracy.
– Promotion of cultural cooperation, education, and fair sport in Europe.
The Council of Europe (CoE; French: Conseil de l'Europe, CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it brings together 46 member states with a population of approximately 675 million as of 2023[update]; it operates with an annual budget of approximately 500 million euros.
Council of Europe Conseil de l'Europe | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} Logo | |
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| Headquarters | Palace of Europe, Strasbourg, France |
| Official languages | English, French |
| Type | Regional intergovernmental organisation |
| Membership |
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| Leaders | |
| Marija Pejčinović Burić | |
• Deputy Secretary General | Bjørn Berge |
• President of the Parliamentary Assembly | Theodoros Roussopoulos |
• President of the Committee of Ministers | Dominique Hasler |
• President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities | Leen Verbeek |
| Legislature | Parliamentary Assembly |
| Establishment | |
| 5 May 1949 | |
Website coe.int | |
The organisation is distinct from the European Union (EU), although people sometimes confuse the two organisations – partly because the EU has adopted the original European flag, designed for the Council of Europe in 1955, as well as the European anthem. No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is an official United Nations Observer.
As an international organisation, the Council of Europe cannot make laws, but it does have the ability to push for the enforcement of select international agreements reached by member states on various topics. The best-known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which functions on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights of 1953.
The council's two statutory bodies are the Committee of Ministers, which comprises the foreign ministers of each member state, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is composed of members of the national parliaments of each member state. The Commissioner for Human Rights is an institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights within the member states. The secretary general presides over the secretariat of the organisation. Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM) and the European Audiovisual Observatory.
The headquarters of the Council of Europe, as well as its Court of Human Rights, are situated in Strasbourg, France. The Council uses English and French as its two official languages. The Committee of Ministers, the PACE, and the Congress of the Council of Europe also use German and Italian for some of their work.
