Council of Europe

• 1. Founding And Early History

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  Winston Churchill stood before the University of Zurich on the 19th of September 1946 and declared that creating a Council of Europe would be a stupendous business. He had first publicly suggested the idea during a BBC radio broadcast on the 21st of March 1943 while the Second World War raged across the continent. The goal was to rebuild peace on a shattered land and prevent future conflicts originating from Europe itself. Ten states signed the Treaty of London on the 5th of May 1949, establishing the organization with Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom as founding members. Greece and Turkey joined three months later to complete the initial group. Paul-Henri Spaak resigned as Belgium's foreign minister in August 1949 to become the first president of the assembly. He worked behind the scenes to steer early efforts but eventually left in December 1951 after the Assembly rejected proposals for a European political authority. The Statute set out democracy, human rights, and the rule of law as its core values.

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• 2. Core Institutions And Structure

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  The Committee of Ministers comprises the foreign ministers of all member states who are represented by their Permanent Representatives and Ambassadors accredited to the Council of Europe. Its presidencies rotate every six months following the English alphabet order. Iceland held the presidency from November 2022 to May 2023, followed by Latvia until November 2023. The Parliamentary Assembly includes national parliamentarians from all member states and adopts resolutions and recommendations to governments. Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe served as rapporteur for drafting the European Convention on Human Rights. Thorbjørn Jagland was elected Secretary General on the 29th of September 2009 and became the first to be re-elected in June 2014. The European Court of Human Rights is composed of one judge from each member state elected for a single nine-year term. Guido Raimondi from Italy currently serves as the court's president. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities was created in 1994 and represents local and regional authorities across all member states. The Commissioner for Human Rights has been held since April 2024 by Michael O'Flaherty from Ireland.

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• 3. Human Rights Framework

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  The European Convention on Human Rights was adopted in 1950 following a report by the Parliamentary Assembly. It created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to adjudicate alleged violations of its articles. This convention featured an enforcement mechanism unlike the Universal Declaration of Human Rights signed earlier that year. Today rulings are binding on 46 European nations making it the most far-reaching system of international justice anywhere. The Council works through conventions collected in the European Treaty Series setting common legal standards for member states. Key instruments include the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the Convention on Prevention of Terrorism, and Conventions against Corruption and Organized Crime. Other major treaties cover trafficking in human beings, biomedicine, violence against women, and protection of children against sexual exploitation. The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice oversees judicial systems while the Group of States Against Corruption monitors anti-corruption measures.

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• 4. Membership Evolution And Expansion

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  West Germany joined as an associate member in 1950 before becoming a full member on the 2nd of May 1951. Iceland had already joined in 1950 followed by Austria in 1956 and Cyprus in 1961. Switzerland entered in 1963 and Malta in 1965. Portugal joined in 1976 and Spain in 1977 two years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. After the fall of Communism with the Revolutions of 1989 countries like Hungary Poland Bulgaria Estonia Lithuania Slovenia Czech Republic Slovakia Romania Albania Ukraine Croatia Georgia Armenia Azerbaijan Bosnia Serbia Montenegro Monaco and Montenegro joined between 1990 and 2007. Russia became a member in 1996 but was expelled in 2022 leaving 46 current members. Turkey was admitted in 1950 despite being mostly Asian. Four Muslim-majority states including Bosnia Herzegovina Turkey Albania and Azerbaijan are now part of the organization. Kosovo participates through its Development Bank membership and Venice Commission involvement.

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• 5. Russia Expulsion And Geopolitics

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  Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996 and lost voting rights in 2014 after annexing Crimea from Ukraine. The Council stripped Russia of its voting rights in the Parliamentary Assembly following support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. In June 2019 an approximately two-thirds majority voted to restore Russia's voting rights in a 118-62 vote with ten abstentions. On the 3rd of March 2022 after launching a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine the council suspended Russia for violations of its statute and the European Convention on Human Rights. Hours before the expulsion vote Russia initiated voluntary withdrawal procedures planning to deliver formal withdrawal by the 31st of December 2022. The Committee of Ministers decided instead that Russia's membership would be terminated immediately under exclusion mechanisms. Former president Dmitry Medvedev endorsed restoring the death penalty after exclusion. Russia had ceased paying annual dues of 32.6 million euros starting in 2017 placing financial strain on the institution.

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• 6. Relationship With The European Union

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  The Council of Europe is distinct from the European Union although people often confuse the two organizations. The EU 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. These institutions benefit from strategic interdependence owing less to formal agreements than complex legal entrepreneurship by transnationally-mobilized professionals. Unlike the EU the Council cannot make binding laws but produces international treaties like the European Convention on Human Rights. Member states maintain sovereignty while committing through conventions developed together at the Council. The EU could be seen as a smaller circle with higher integration levels transferring powers from national to EU level. Protocol No. 14 allows the EU to accede to the convention and the Lisbon Treaty binds it to join. Concerns exist about consistency between judgments from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and those of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

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• 7. Scandals And Ethical Challenges

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  After Azerbaijan joined in 2001 both the Council and its Parliamentary Assembly faced criticism over election rigging and human rights violations there. An internal inquiry set up in 2017 amid allegations of bribery concluded that several members broke ethical rules and were strongly suspected of corruption. A 219-page report issued in 2018 after ten months of investigation named Italian member Luca Volontè as suspect in corruptive activities. Volontè was convicted in January 2021 of accepting bribes totaling over 2.39 million euros from Azerbaijani officials to water down critiques of political prisoner abuse. He received four years in prison from a Milan court for organized crime and corruption charges. Pedro Agramunt former Parliamentary Assembly president resigned under pressure in 2017 following suggestions he engaged in corruptive activities. The Council suspended Greece in 1967 after a military coup d'état before readmitting it in 1974. Critics argue the organization needs concrete actions to return to protecting human rights despite launching redundant activities with other bodies like the EU and OSCE.

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