The
Council of Europe ( ) is the oldest
international organisation
working towards
European
integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular
emphasis on legal standards,
human
rights,
democratic development, the
rule of law and cultural co-operation.
It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens.
Its statutory institutions are the
Committee of Ministers comprising the
foreign ministers of each member state, the
Parliamentary
Assembly composed of
MPs
from the
Parliament of each member state,
and the
Secretary General
heading the secretariat of the Council of Europe.
The most
famous conventional bodies of the Council of Europe are the
European
Court of Human Rights
, which enforces the European Convention on Human
Rights, and the European
Pharmacopoeia Commission, which sets the quality standards for
pharmaceutical products in Europe. The Council of Europe's
work has resulted in standards, charters and conventions to
facilitate cooperation between European countries and further
integration.
The seat
of the Council of Europe is in Strasbourg
, France
with
English and French as its two official languages. The Committee
of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the
Congress also use
German,
Italian and
Russian for some of their work.
History
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
on 19 September 1946, Sir Winston Churchill called for a United States of Europe and the
creation of a Council of Europe. He had spoken of a Council
of Europe as early as 1943 in a broadcast to the
nation.
The
future structure of the Council of Europe was discussed at a
specific congress of several hundred leading politicians,
government representatives and civil society in The Hague
, Netherlands
in 1948. 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.
This dual
intergovernmental and inter-parliamentary structure was later
copied for the European
Communities, NATO
and the
OSCE.
The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by the
Treaty of London. The Treaty of
London or 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 includes all European
states except Belarus
and Kazakhstan
.
Aims and achievements
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.
While the
member states of the European Union
transfer national legislative and executive powers to the European
Commission
and the European Parliament
in specific areas under European Community law, Council of
Europe member states maintain their sovereignty but commit
themselves through conventions (i.e. public international law) and
co-operate on the basis of common values and common political
decisions. Those conventions and decisions are developed by
the member states working together at the Council of Europe,
whereas secondary European Community law is set by the organs of
the European Union. Both organisations function as concentric
circles around the common foundations for
European integration, with the Council
of Europe being the geographically wider circle. The European Union
could be seen as the smaller circle with a much higher level of
integration through the transfer of powers from the national to the
EU level. Being part of public international law, Council of Europe
conventions could also be opened for signature to non-member states
thus facilitating equal co-operation with countries outside Europe
(see chapter below).
The Council of Europe's most famous achievement is the
European Convention on Human
Rights, which was adopted in 1950 following a report by the
Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.
The Convention 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. It is to this court that Europeans can bring
cases if they believe that a member country has violated their
fundamental rights.
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 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
Convention
on the Prevention of Terrorism, the Conventions
against Corruption and Organised Crime, and the
Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine.
- CODEXTER, designed to co-ordinate
counter-terrorism measures
- The
European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice
- Protection of human rights, notably
through:
- Protection of democracy through
parliamentary scrutiny and election monitoring by its Parliamentary
Assembly as well as assistance in democratic reforms, in particular
by the Venice Commission.
- 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 and Lisbon
Recognition Convention).
- 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
.
- Promotion of the quality of medicines throughout Europe by the
European
Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Pharmacopoeia.
Institutions
The parliamentary hemicycle
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 current
Secretary General is the former Prime Minister of Norway, Thorbjørn Jagland, who took office on
1 October 2009.
- 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. Committee of
Ministers' presidencies are held in alphabetical order for six
months following the English alphabet: Switzerland
11/2009-05/2010, Macedonia
(alphabetically sorted under "T" as "the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") 05/2010-11/2010, Turkey
11/2010-05/2011, Ukraine
05/2011-11/2011 and the United Kingdom
11/2011 - 05/2012 etc.
- The Parliamentary
Assembly (PACE), which comprises national parliamentarians from
all member states and elects its President for a year with the
possibility of being re-elected for another year. In January 2008,
Lluis Maria de Puig from Spain
was elected
President of the Parliamentary Assembly. National
parliamentary delegations to the Assembly must reflect the
political spectrum of their national parliament, i.e. comprise
government and opposition parties. The Assembly appoints members as
rapporteurs with the mandate to prepare parliamentary reports on
specific subjects. The British MP Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe was rapporteur
for the drafting of the European Convention on Human
Rights. Dick Marty's reports on
secret CIA detentions and rendition flights in
Europe became quite famous in 2007. Other Assembly rapporteurs were
instrumental in, for example, the abolition of the death penalty in
Europe, the political and human rights situation in Chechnya
, disappeared persons in Belarus, freedom of
expression in the media and many other subjects.
- 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 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.
- 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. Since 2007, Jean-Paul
Costa from France is the 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. This position is held since 2006 by Thomas Hammarberg from Sweden.
- The Conference of INGOs. NGOs (NGOs)
can participate in the INGO Conference of the Council of Europe.
Since the [Resolution (2003)8] adopted by the Committee of
Ministers on 19 November 2003, they are given a “participatory
status”.
- Information Offices of the Council of Europe in many member
states.
The CoE system also includes a number of semi-autonomous structures
known as "
Partial Agreements",
some of which are also open to non-member states:
Headquarters and buildings
The seat
of the Council of Europe is in Strasbourg, France.
First meetings were held in Strasbourg's
University Palace in 1949, but the
Council of Europe moved soon into its own buildings.
The Council of
Europe's eight main buildings are situated in the Quartier
européen, an area in the north-west of Strasbourg spread over
the three districts Le Wacken, La Robertsau and Quartier de
l'Orangerie, that also features the four buildings of the seat of the European Parliament in
Strasbourg
, the Arte headquarters and the
seat of the International Institute
of Human Rights.
Building in the area started in 1949 with the predecessor of the
Palais de l'Europe, the House of Europe (torn down in 1977) and
came to a provisional end in 2007 with the opening of the New
General Office Building in 2008.
The Palais de l'Europe (Palace of
Europe
) as well as the Art
Nouveau Villa Schutzenberger (seat of the European Audiovisual
Observatory) are located in the Orangerie district, the
European
Court of Human Rights, the European
Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and the Agora Building
are situated in the Robertsau district. The Agora building
has been voted "best international business center real estate
project of 2007" on 13 March 2008, at the
MIPIM 2008. The
European Youth Centre is located in
the Wacken district.
Besides its headquarters in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe is
also present in other cities and countries.
The Council of Europe
Development Bank has its seat in Paris
, the
North-South Centre of the Council
of Europe is established in Lisbon, Portugal, and the Centre for Modern Languages is in Graz, Austria. There are European Youth Centres in Budapest, Hungary and Strasbourg. The European Wergeland Centre, a new
Resource Centre on education for intercultural dialogue, human
rights and democratic citizenship, operated in cooperation with the
Norwegian Government opened in Oslo
, Norway
in February
2009.
The
Council of Europe has offices in Albania
, Armenia
, Azerbaijan
, Bosnia and Herzegovina
, Georgia
, Moldova
, Montenegro
, Serbia
, Ukraine and information offices in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria
, Czech
Republic
, Estonia
, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia
, Lithuania
, Moldova, Poland
, Romania
, Russian Federation
, Slovakia
, Slovenia
, the Republic of Macedonia
, Ukraine and a projects office in Turkey. All
of these offices are establishments of the Council of Europe and
they share its juridical personality with privileges and
immunities.
Symbols
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 5 May 1964 - the 15th anniversary of its founding, the Council
of Europe established 5 May as
Europe
Day.
Although protected by copyright, the wide private and public use of
the European Flag is 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".
Membership
The
Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by Belgium
, Denmark
, France, Ireland
, Italy
, Luxembourg
, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
and the
United
Kingdom. Greece
and
Turkey joined three
months later, and Iceland
and Germany
the next year. It now has 47 member
states, with Montenegro being the latest to join.
Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that
membership is open to any "European" State. This has been
interpreted liberally from the beginning (when Turkey was admitted)
to include any
Eurasian state with a toe-hold in Europe.
As a
result, nearly all European
states have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the
exception of Belarus (human rights concerns) and Kosovo
whose
status as an independent state is disputed by some Council of
Europe member states.
Notes on table;
aGreece and Turkey also considered as founders of the
organisation.
bIn 1950, the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), est. 23 May 1949, and then
French-occupied Saar became
associate members. (West) Germany became a full member in 1951,
while the Saarland withdrew from its associate membership in 1956
after acceding to the Federal Republic after a referendum in 1955.
The
Soviet-occupied eastern part of Germany and later East German
Democratic Republic never became a member of the Council of
Europe. Through German
reunification in 1990, the five Länder (i.e.
states/regions) of East Germany acceded to the Federal Republic of
Germany and thus gained representation in the Council of
Europe.
c Joined under the provisional reference "the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (including quotation marks).
Majority of countries recognise the country with its constitutional
name.
d 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.
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. On 11 May 2007, Montenegro joined the Council of Europe as 47th member
state.
This coin was issued in Armenia to
commemorate Armenia's accession to the Council in 2001
Applicants
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
administration 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. Belarus applied for full membership on 12 March
1993 (still open).
Kazakhstan applied for the Special Guest status with the
Parliamentary
Assembly in 1999. The Assembly found that Kazakhstan
could apply for full membership, because it is partially located in
Europe, but granting Special Guest status would require
improvements in the fields of
democracy
and
human rights. Kazakhstan signed a
co-operation agreement with the Assembly.
Observers
Canada
, Japan
, Mexico
, the
U.S.
and the
Holy
See
have observer status with the Council of Europe and
can participate in the Committee of Ministers and all
intergovernmental committees. They may contribute
financially to the activities of the Council of Europe on a
voluntary basis.
The
parliaments of Canada, Israel
and
Mexico have
observer status with the Parliamentary Assembly and their
delegations can participate in Assembly sessions and committee
meetings. Representatives of the Palestinian Legislative
Council may participate in Assembly debates concerning the
Middle East as well as Turkish representatives from Northern
Cyprus
concerning this island.
There has
been criticism concerning the observer status of Japan and the
United
States because both countries apply the death
penalty. The
Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe has been lobbying for the
United States and Japan to abolish the death penalty or lose their
observer status.
The Council also voted to restore Special
Guest status to Belarus, on
condition that Belarus declare a moratorium on the death
penalty.
Co-operation
Non-member states
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 (signed e.g. by Canada, Japan, South Africa and the United States), the Lisbon Recognition Convention
on the recognition of study periods and degrees (signed e.g. by
Australia, Belarus, Canada, the
Holy See, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
, New
Zealand
and the USA
), the
Anti-doping Convention (signed e.g.
by Australia, Belarus, Canada and
Tunisia
) and the
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural
Habitats (signed e.g. by Burkina Faso
, Morocco
, Tunisia and Senegal
as well as the European Community). Non-member
states also participate in several partial agreements, such as the
Venice Commission, the
Group of States Against
Corruption GRECO, the
European Pharmacopoeia Commission and
the
North-South Centre.
Invitations to sign and ratify relevant conventions of the Council
of Europe on a case-by-case basis are sent to three groups of
non-member entities:
European Union
Relations in general between the CoE and the EU
As mentioned in the introduction, it is important to realise that
the Council of Europe is not to be mistaken with the
Council of the European Union
(the "Council of Ministers") or the
European Council. These belong to the
European Union, which is separate
from the Council of Europe, although they have shared the same
European flag and anthem since the 1980s because they also work for
European integration.
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.
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 it and
the EU
Treaty of Lisbon contains a
protocol binding the EU to join. The EU would thus be subject to
its human rights law and external monitoring as its member states
currently are. 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.
Joint Programmes between the CoE and the EU
The Council of Europe and the European Union are based on the same
values and pursue common aims with regard to the protection of
democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and
the rule of law. These common aims have led the Council of Europe
and the European Union to develop a very tight network of relations
and cooperation links (participation of the European Commission to
meet Council of Europe activities, accession of European Union to
Council of Europe Conventions, etc.). One significant instrument of
this cooperation is the conclusion since 1993 of a number of joint
programmes, for essentially cooperation with countries which have
joined the Council of Europe since 1989. The same countries have
developed increasingly close links with the European Union, or have
applied for membership. By combining forces in this way, the
complementarity of respective activities of the European Commission
and the Council of Europe has been enhanced. In April 2001 an
important step was taken through the signature by the European
Commission and the Council of Europe of a Joint Declaration on
Cooperation and Partnership, which, among other things, offers more
systematic means of joint programming and priority-setting.
Country-specific and thematic Joint Programmes
Most joint programmes are country-specific.
They cover Albania (since 1993), Ukraine (since 1995), the Russian Federation (since 1996), Moldova (since 1997), Georgia (since 1999), Serbia, Montenegro, Armenia, and Azerbaijan (since 2001), Turkey (since
2001), Bosnia and
Herzegovina (since 2003) and also the Republic of
Macedonia. Other Joint Programmes, for instance for the
Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania) have also been implemented in the
past.There have also been multilateral thematic joint
programmes, open to Central and Eastern European countries,
regarding, for instance, national minorities, the fight against
organised crime and corruption, and the development of independent
and multidisciplinary ethics committees for review of biomedical
research. There have been other multilateral joint programmes, for
awareness-raising on the abolition of the death penalty, the
preparation of the European conference to fight against racism and
intolerance, action to promote the European Social Charter and a
programme to strengthen democracy and constitutional development in
central and eastern Europe with the Council of Europe's
Venice Commission.
There is
a "Council of Europe Project Office" in Ankara
, Turkey since 2004
which implements joint projects of the Council of Europe and the
European Union in co-operation with
the Turkish government.
Activities
The Joint
Programmes consist of a series of activities agreed between the
European
Commission and the Council of Europe, in consultation with the
governments of the concerned countries, designed to facilitate and
support legal and institutional reform. Training courses,
expert reports and advice to governments, conferences, workshops,
seminars and publication dissemination are all usual working
methods. The emphasis has been on training and advice but in some
cases Joint Programmes have even offered limited material support
(for instance with the establishment of the Albanian School of
Magistrates and the State Publications Centre).
Programming and funding
The Directorate General for External Relations of the European
Commission and the Council of Europe's Directorate of Strategic
Planning (as well as other services as applicable) set and match
priorities for the purpose of Joint Programmes. Sometimes the
Council of Europe makes proposals to the European Commission for
urgent joint undertakings. EuropeAid is the structure within the
European Commission involved in the final selection and
administrative follow-up of programmes. The Council of Europe
counterpart throughout the project cycle is the Directorate of
Strategic Planning, in close consultation with the different
Council of Europe Directorates General responsible for the
implementation of the activities. In recent years the European
Commission Delegations in the beneficiary countries have
increasingly been implied in the Joint Programmes. Equally, Council
of Europe Secretariat Offices in the field support planning and
implementation.
The European Commission and the Council of Europe provide joint
funding for the programme, and the Council of Europe is responsible
for its implementation. In most cases funding is shared on a 50-50
basis but on some occasions the European Commission has contributed
with proportionally more resources. A large number of Joint
Programmes have been concluded with the EC's European Initiative
for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Programmes have also been concluded with the European Commission's
TACIS and CARDS programmes. In 2002 a major Joint Programme for
Turkey became operational, with resources from the EU enlargement
funds and the Council of Europe. In 2001 two Joint Programmes were
established with the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR), a
decentralised agency of the European Union that deals with
assistance to Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia.
Programme Partners
The Council of Europe often works with partner institutions in the
country concerned. Partners may include:
- The Ministries of Justice, Foreign Affairs and the
Interior
- The national and regional Bar Associations
- The office of the Public Prosecutor
- The Courts and judicial training centres
- The national or regional commissioners on human rights
- Journalists' unions
- Other professional bodies
- Human rights protection movements and other non-governmental
organisations.
United Nations
The Council of Europe holds observer status with the
United Nations and is regularly represented
in the UN General Assembly. It has organised the regional UN
conferences against racism and on women and co-operates with the
United Nations at many levels, in particular in the areas of human
rights, minorities, migration and counter-terrorism.
Non-governmental Organisations
Non-governmental Organisations (
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.
See also
References
- CoE Conventions
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