The Council of Europe?
Description
This article is from the European Union FAQ, by Roland Siebelink & Bart Schelfhout with numerous contributions by others.
The Council of Europe?
The Council of Europe is quite a different organisation from the EU. It is a
purely intergovernmental organisation much more like the United Nations;
unlike EU legislation, its treaties are not directly applicable in national
law, unless ratified by the normal parliamentary procedures of the member
state concerned. The Council of Europe (Conseil de l'Europe, Europarat)
should not be confused with the European Council[2] (Conseil europien,
Europdische Rat), which is an EU institution.
Even through these limited powers, the CoE has achieved some remarkable
results since its founding in 1949. Apart from stimulating grassroots
European integration through cultural and educational projects, the CoE is
probably best known for the European Convention for the Protection of Human
Rights and Personal Freedoms and its associated European Court for Human
Rights in Strasbourg (not to be confused with the EU Court of Justice in
Luxembourg). CoE members actually allow their nationals to challenge
national legislation and jurisdiction before this court, which has thus
become a sort of guarantee for human rights, even for countries which do not
have a written constitution (such as Britain) or a supreme court.
Current CoE members include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway,
the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
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