The Council of Europe

You should know that

The Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural cooperation. It has 47 member states with some 800 million citizens.

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 Council of Europe's most famous achievement is:

the European Convention of human rights, which was adopted in 1950 following a report by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly. The Convention created the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It is to this court that Europeans can bring cases if they believe that a member country has violated their fundamental rights.

Council of Europe works in the following areas:

Protection of the rule of law and fostering legal co-operation through some 200 conventions and other treaties, including such leading instruments as the Convention on Cybercrime, the Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, the Conventions against Corruption and Organised Crime, and the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedecine CODEXTER, designed to co-ordinate counter-terrorism measures Protection of democracy through parliamentary scrutiny and election monitoring by its Parliamentary Assembly as well as assistance in democratic reforms, in particular by the Venice Commission. Promotion of cultural co-operation and diversity under the Council of Europe's Cultural Convention of 1954 and several conventions on the protection of cultural heritage as well as through its Centre for Modern Languages in Graz, Austria etc. Promotion of European youth exchanges and co-operation through European Youth Centres in Budapest,Hungary,Strasbourg Etc.

Membership

Founder States Later Members

Examples:
Albania- 13 july 1995 Moldova-13 july 1995 Romania-7 october 1993 Germany-13 july 1950 France-founder Norway-Founder etc.

Non-member states
Non-members invited to sign conventions Council of Europe members

Moldova and the Council of Europe

Accession Moldova became the 36th member State of the Council of Europe on 13 July 1995. Parliamentary Assembly Moldova is represented in the Parliamentary Assembly by a delegation of 5 representatives and 5 substitutes, including: - Maria POSTOICO (UEL), head of the delegation and second Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Rules of procedure, Immunities and Intitutional Affairs. Budget The Council of Europe's ordinary budget for 2009 is 205 002 000. The contribution of Moldova is 246 002.40(i.e 0,1200%)

Council of Europe Office Puskin 4 MD - 2009 CHIINU Tel : +373.22.202.304 Tel/Fax : +373.22.202.305 E-mail : informchisinau@coe.int http://www.bice.md