Council of Europe

Council of Europe

Conseil de l'Europe
Logo
Abbreviation	CoE
Formation	Treaty of London 1949
Type	Regional intergovernmental organization
Headquarters	Strasbourg, France
Membership	47 member states 5 Council observers 3 Assembly observers
Official languages	English, French Other working languages: German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish
Secretary General	Thorbjørn Jagland
Deputy Secretary General	Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni
President of the Parliamentary Assembly	Pedro Agramunt
President of the Committee of Ministers	Edmond Panariti
President of the Congress	Jean-Claude Frécon
Website	www.coe.int
European Flag
European Anthem	"Ode to Joy" (orchestral)

www.coe.int

The Council of Europe (CoE; French: Conseil de l'Europe) is an international organisation focused on promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 47 member states, covers approximately 820 million people and operates with an annual budget of approximately half a billion euros.

The organisation is distinct from the 28-nation European Union (EU), although it is sometimes confused with it, partly because the EU has adopted the original European Flag which was created by 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.

Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws, but it does have the power to enforce select international agreements reached by European states on various topics. The best known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Council's two statutory bodies are the Committee of Ministers, comprising the foreign ministers of each member state, and the Parliamentary Assembly, composed of members of the national parliaments of each member state. The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe, mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the member states. The Secretary General heads the secretariat of the organisation. Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines.