Council of Europe

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The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de l'Europe /kɔ̃sɛj də løʁɔp/, German: Europarat /ɔy.ˈʁoː.paˌʁaːt/) 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 main success was the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950, which serves as the basis for the European Court of Human Rights.

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 Palais de l'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 is not to be confused with the Council of the European Union or the European Council, as it is a separate organisation and not part of the European Union.

1 Founding
2 Aims
3 Institutions
4 Symbols
5 Membership
- 5.1 Membership of Germany and Saarland
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] 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 agreed to by the ten original members. This treaty is now known as the Statute of the Council of Europe.

[edit] 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
Addressing problems facing European society including discrimination, xenophobia, environmental degradation, AIDS, drugs and organised crime
Encouraging democratic stability via reform.

[edit] 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 the Council of Europe (Congress)
The European Court of Human Rights
The Commissioner for Human Rights
The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines
The Pompidou Group - Cooperation Group to Combat Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Drugs

There's also the European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission.

[edit] Symbols

Main article: European symbols

Image:COE flag.jpg

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].

[edit] Membership

Today, there are 46 member states, including nearly every European state (the only European Countries without membership are the Holy See, Montenegro and Belarus, although the later two are official canidates) . 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).

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.

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 Committe of Ministers declared that the Republic of Serbia will continue the membership of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.[4]

Some non-European states also have observer status at Council of Europe institutions:

Image:Flag of Japan (bordered).svg Japan and the Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States have observer status at the Committee of Ministers.

Image:Flag of Israel (bordered).svg Israel has observer status at the Parliamentary Assembly.

Image:Flag of Canada.svg Canada and Image:Flag of Mexico.svg Mexico have observer status at both the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly.

[edit] Membership of Germany and Saarland

In 1950 West Germany and Saarland became associate members. West Germany became a full member in 1951. Saarland withdrew the independent membership in 1956. Saarland then integrated back into West Germany in 1957. This played a role in the stars of the Flag of Europe.

East Germany never became a member in its own right, since it joined in 1990 to West Germany (already a member).

See note 4