European Council

Council of Europe

-The first summits of EU heads of state or government

were held in February and July 1961 (in Paris
and Bonn respectively). They were informal summits of
the leaders of the European Community and were
started due to then-French President Charles de
Gaulle's resentment at the domination of supranational
institutions (e.g. the European Commission) over the
integration process, but petered out. The first influential
summit held, after the departure of De Gaulle, was The
Hague summit of 1969, which reached an agreement on
the admittance of the United Kingdom into the
Community and initiated foreign policy cooperation
(theEuropean Political Cooperation) taking integration
beyond economics.
-is the Institution of the European Union (EU) that
comprises the heads of state or government of the
member states, along with the council's own
president and
the president of
the Commission.
The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs
and
Security
Policy also
takes
part
in
its
meetings. Established as an informal summit in 1975,
the council was formalized as an Institution in 2009 upon
the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. The current
president of the European Council is Donald Tusk.
-While
the
European
Council
has
no
formal legislative power, it is a strategic (and crisissolving) body that provides the union with general
political directions and priorities, and acts as a collective
presidency. The European Commission remains the sole
initiator of legislation, but the European Council is able
to provide an impetus to guide legislative policy.
-The European Council is an official institution of the EU,
mentioned by the Lisbon Treaty as a body which "shall
provide the Union with the necessary impetus for its
development". Essentially it defines the EU's policy
agenda and has thus been considered to be the motor
of European integration. It does this without any formal
powers, only the influence it has being composed of
national leaders. Beyond the need to provide "impetus",
the Council has developed further roles; to "settle issues

-In a speech at the University of Zurich on 19 September

1946, Sir Winston Churchill called for a "kind of United
States of Europe" and for the creation of a Council of
Europe. He had spoken of a Council of Europe as early as
1943 in a radio broadcast
-The Council of Europe founded in 1949, is
a regional intergovernmental organisation whose stated
goal is to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule
of law in its 47 member states, covering 820 million
citizens. The organisation is separate from the 28nation European Union, though sometimes confused with
it, in part because they share the European flag. Unlike
the European Union, the Council of Europe cannot make
binding laws.
-The headquarters of the Council of Europe are
in Strasbourg, France. English and French are
its
two official languages. The Committee of Ministers, the
Parliamentary
Assembly
and
the Congress also
use German, Italian, Russian, and Turkish for some of
their work.
-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.
-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.

Council of European Union

-The Council first appeared in the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC) as the "Special Council of Ministers", set
up to counterbalance the High Authority (the supranational
executive, now the Commission). The original Council had
limited powers: issues relating only to coal and steel were in
the Authority's domain, and the Council's consent was only
required on decisions outside coal and steel. As a whole, the
Council only scrutinised the High Authority (the executive). In
1957, the Treaties of Rome established two new
communities, and with them two new Councils: the Council of
the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and the
Council of the European Economic Community (EEC).
However, due to objections over the supranational power of
the Authority, their Councils had more powers; the new
executive bodies were known as "Commissions". In 1965 the
Council was hit by the "empty chair crisis". Due to
disagreements between French
President Charles de
Gaulle and the Commission's agriculture proposals, among
other things, France boycotted all meetings of the Council.
This halted the Council's work until the impasse was resolved
the following year by the Luxembourg compromise. Although
initiated by a gamble of the President of the
Commission,Walter Hallstein, who later on lost the
Presidency, the crisis exposed flaws in the Council's
workings.
-often still referred to as the Council of Ministers, or
sometimes just called the Council is the third of the
seven institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in
the Treaty on European Union. It is part of the
essentially bicameral EU legislature (the other legislative
body being the European Parliament) and represents the
executive governments of the EU's member states. It is
based in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Belgium.
-The Council meets in 10 different configurations of
28 national
ministers (one
per state).
The
precise
membership of these configurations varies according to the
topic
under
consideration;
for
example,
when
discussing agricultural policy the Council is formed by the 28
national ministers whose portfolio includes this policy area
(with the related European Commissioners contributing but

outstanding from discussions at a lower level", to lead in

foreign policy acting externally as a "collective Head
of State", "formal ratification of important documents"
and "involvement in the negotiation of the treaty
changes
-The European Council consists of the heads of state or
government of the member states, alongside its
own President and the Commission President (nonvoting). The meetings used to be regularly attended by
the national foreign minister as well, and the
Commission President likewise accompanied by another
member of the Commission. Meetings can also include
other invitees, such as the President of the European
Central Bank, as required. The Secretary-General of the
Council attends, and is responsible for organizational
matters, including minutes. The President of the
European Parliament also attends to give an opening
speech outlining the European Parliament's position
before talks begin. Additionally, the negotiations involve
a large number of other people working behind the
scenes. Most of those people, however, are not allowed
to the conference room, except for two delegates per
state to relay messages. At the push of a button
members can also call for advice from a Permanent
Representative via the "Antici Group" in an adjacent
room. The group is composed of diplomats and
assistants who convey information and requests.
Interpreters are also required for meetings as members
are permitted to speak in their own languages.

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.
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 2016, Pedro Agramunt from Spain was
elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
National parliamentary delegations to the Assembly
must reflect the political spectrum of their national
parliament.
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 Cooperation 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. The current President
of the Court is Guido Raymondi from Italy. 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. Ratification of Protocol
No. 14 was delayed by Russia for a number of years,
but won support to be passed in January 2010.
The Commissioner for Human Rights, who is
elected by the Parliamentary Assembly for a nonrenewable term of six years since the creation of this
position in 1999. Since April 2012, this position has

not voting).
-The primary purpose of the Council is to act as one of the
two chambers of the EU's legislative branch, the other
chamber being the European Parliament. It also holds, jointly
with the Parliament, the budgetary power of the Union and
has greater control than the Parliament over the more
intergovernmental areas of the EU, such as foreign policy
and macroeconnomic co-ordination.
-The EU's legislative authority is divided between the Council
and the Parliament. As the relationships and powers of these
institutions have developed, various legislative procedures
have been created for adopting laws. In early times, there
was said: "The Commission proposes, and the Council
disposes"; but now the vast majority of laws are now subject
to the ordinary legislative procedure, which works on the
principle that consent from both the Council and Parliament
are required before a law may be adopted.
-Legally speaking, the Council is a single entity, but it is in
practice divided into several different council configurations
(or (con)formations). Article 16(6) of the Treaty on European
Union provides:
The Council shall meet in different configurations, the list of
which shall be adopted in accordance with Article 236 of the
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
The General Affairs Council shall ensure consistency in the
work of the different Council configurations. It shall prepare
and ensure the follow-up to meetings of the European
Council, in liaison with the President of the European Council
and the Commission.
The Foreign Affairs Council shall elaborate the Union's
external action on the basis of strategic guidelines laid down
by the European Council and ensure that the Union's action
is consistent.

been held by Nils Muinieks from Latvia.

The Conference of INGOs. NGOs can participate
in the INGOs 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.