The Council of Europe
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 to defend and promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It is the continent's oldest political organisation. It has its headquarters in Strasbourg, in north-eastern France. Finland joined the Council of Europe in 1989. Today the Council groups together 46 countries and has application from one more country, Belarus. It has granted observer status to five more countries, the Holy See, the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico.
The core aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members, anchored in human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. The Council strives to develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries' social and legal practices. It also promotes awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.
This core task - the promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law - was reconfirmed by the Heads of State and Goverment in the Organisation's Warsaw Summit in May 2005.
Political aims
Following the significant changes in Europe's political scene in 1989, the Council's main job became to act as a political anchor and human rights watchdog for Europe's post-communist democracies. This means assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in parallel with economic reform. The Council provides know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy, education, culture and the environment.
The Council of Europe's Vienna Summit in October 1993 set out new political aims. The Heads of State and Government cast the Council of Europe as the guardian of democratic security - founded on human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Democratic security is an essential complement to military security, and is a pre-requisite for the continent's stability and peace.
During the Second Summit in Strasbourg in October 1997, the Heads of State and Government adopted an action plan to strengthen the Council of Europe's work in four areas: democracy and human rights, social cohesion, the security of citizens and democratic values and cultural diversity.
The Council of Europe's third Summit of Heads of State and Government, held in Warsaw on 16 and 17 May 2005, concluded by adopting a political declaration and an action plan laying down the principal tasks of the Council of Europe in the coming years:
- promoting the common fundamental values of human rights, the rule of law and democracy
- strengthening the security of European citizens, in particular by combating terrorism, organised crime and trafficking in human beings
- fostering co-operation with other international and European organisations.
Today, the Organisation continues to grow while at the same time increasing its monitoring to ensure that all its members respect the obligations and commitments they entered into when they joined.
How it works
There are four main component parts of the Council of Europe.
The Committee of Ministers, composed of the 46 Foreign ministers or their Strasbourg-based deputies (ambassadors/permanent representatives), is the Organisation's decision-making body. It is currently presided by Portugal.
The Parliamentary Assembly groups 630 members (315 representatives and 315 substitutes) from the 46 national parliaments. The current President is René van der Linden (EPP/CD), from the Netherlands.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities is composed of a Chamber of Local Authorities and a Chamber of Regions. Its current President is Giovanni Di Stasi (Socialists), from Italy.
The 1800-strong secretariat is headed since September 2004 by Secretary General Terry Davis (Socialists), from United Kingdom. He is a former Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly and former President of the Socialist Group of the Assembly.
Ordinary budget
In 2005 the ordinary budget of the Council of Europe is 186,012,700 euros.
Some practical achievements
There are 198 legally binding European treaties or conventions many of which are open to non-member states on topics ranging from human rights to the fight against organised crime and from the prevention of torture to data protection or cultural co-operation.
The Council of Europe also gives recommendations to governments setting out policy guidelines on such issues as legal matters, health, education, culture and sport.
The pan-European dimension
Since November 1990, the accession of 21 countries of central and eastern Europe has given the Council of Europe a genuine pan-European dimension, so that it is now the organisation that represents Greater Europe.
Source: The Council of Europe's website
The Council of Europe's website(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)