Council of Europe
- Council of Europe Logo (Photo: http://www.coe.int/DefaultEN.asp)
Council of Europe
An all-European organisation based in Strasbourg with 47 European member states. Founded in 1949 following the Congress of Europe in The Hague. Not to be confused with the European Council or the Council of Ministers of the EU.
The Council of Europe has a parliamentary assembly, meeting in Strasbourg near the European Parliament. The parliamentary assembly can advise a ministerial committee that makes recommendations for its member states.
Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe does not make supra-national binding decisions or laws. It has been responsible for a number of international Conventions, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights. Under the Treaty of Lisbon the EU,which now has legal personality like its memmber states, must sign up to the European Convention on Human Rights.
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The EU borrowed its blue and yellow 12-star flag from the Council of Europe as well as Beethoven's 9th symphony, which is used as the European anthem. There are therefore now two different European institutions using the same flag and music for symbolic identification.
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