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PACE historical overview |
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The idea of a united Europe, and of the establishment
of some body representatives of Europe as a whole and cometent
to speak,
perhaps to act, on its behalf, was commonly
advanced at least as early as the XIXth century. Only in the XXth
century, however, has that idea taken concrete form - and then not until
the First world War had demonstrated
its necessity. In the main the proponents of what is now customarily
called the “European idea” have fallen into two groups, the
first advocating co-operation and co-ordination of policies between European
States without demanding of the latter
formal surrenders of sovereignty, the second urging a Federation of Europe. |
| 1930 |
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The so-called “Briand Plan” of
1930 is an example of the first approach: the proposals put forward in
the name of the French Government, for all that they appeared in a Memorandum “on
the organisation of a system of European Federal Union”, required
no more in effect than the creation of a European section, rather more
closely-knit, of the League of Nations. The efforts of Count Richard
Coudenhove-Kalergi are a notable example of the second. |
| 1946 |
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During and after the Second World War
the European idea gained greatly in force and in the number and, authority
of its exponents. Twice during the War Winston Churchill publicly
expressed his conviction that Europe, when hostilities had ceased,
must join together; and on at least one occasion he wrote specifically
of a “Council of Europe”‘. On 19th September, 1946, in
a famous speech at Zürich, he called for the
definitive ending of the feud between France and Germany and for these
two States, in friendly alliance, to constitute the nucleus of “a
kind of United States of Europe”. Later he was to write: “My
counsel to Europe can be given in a single word: Unite!” |
| 1947 |
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His words met with widespread and enthusiastic
response. No sooner had the War ended than a large number of private
movements and organisations concerned to sponsor and foster the idea
of a United Europe sprang up, arousing great interest among wide sections
of the population. In 1947 these various groups decided to co-ordinate
their activities and increase their effectiveness by jointly creating
one central movement, to be known as the “European Movement”.
The next important step was taken in 1948. In May of that year a Congress was
convened at The Hague to discuss and make proposals for a body to represent
democratic Europe. The Congress, in which some 800 Ministers, Members
of Parliaments, trade unionists, artists, journalists, economists and
members of the liberal professions took part, came out in favour of the
creation of a European assembly and of various measures for bringing
European policies into line economically, socially and politically, the
whole resting on a common acceptance of human rights. |
| 1948 |
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At the same time the idea of an European
body had been taken up by the five Brussels Treaty Powers, to which Mr.Paul-Henri
Spaak, then Prime Minister of Belgium, undertook to convey the Resolutions
adopted by the Hague Congress. After some months of negotiations between
the Governments as to whether this body should be purely inter-governmental
or should follow more closely the ideas sponsored by the European Movement,
a Conference of Ambassadors produced a plan for a new kind of European
Organization in which the conventional Ministerial organ should have
as counterpart a Parliamentary Assembly. |
| 1949 |
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On 5th May, 1949 the five Governments
Members of the Brussels Treaty (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom) and the Governments of Denmark, Ireland, Italy,
Norway and Sweden signed in London the Statute of this new body, the
Council of Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE), which held its first session on 10 August 1949, can be considered
the oldest international parliamentary Assembly with a pluralistic composition
of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis
of an intergovernmental treaty. The Assembly is one of the two statutory
organs of the Council of Europe, which is composed of a Committee of
Ministers (the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, meeting usually at the level
of their deputies) and an Assembly representing the political forces
in its member states. |
| 1950-2007 |
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The statutory aim of the Council of Europe, which started
with ten member states and now has 47, is to achieve greater unity among
its members through common action, agreements and debates. The conditions
for membership are pluralistic democracy, the rule of law and respect
for human rights. Only those countries, which fulfill these criteria,
can accede. Consequently some countries were only able to join the Organisation
at a subsequent stage; i.e. Portugal in 1976, Spain in 1977. Greece was
obliged to withdraw from the Council of Europe in 1970 for a period of
four years.
The Knesset of Israel participates in the work of the
Parliamentary Assembly as an Observer since 1957, the Parliament of Canada
since May 1997 and the Parliament of Mexico since November 1999.
The United States of America were granted Observer
status with the Council of Europe on 10 January, Canada on 29 May, Japan
on 21 November 1996 and Mexico on 7 December 1999.
The democratisation process in Central and Eastern
Europe led to Hungary's accession in 1990, Poland's in 1991, Bulgaria's
in 1992 and Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Romania in 1993. That of
the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic replaced Czechoslovakia's
accession from 1991 in 1993. Latvia joined the Council of Europe on 10
February, Moldova and Albania on 13 July and Ukraine and the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia on 9 November 1995. The Russian Federation acceded
on 28 February, Croatia on 6 November 1996, Georgia on 27 April 1999,
Armenia and Azerbaijan on 25 January 2001, Bosnia and Herzegovina
on 24 April 2002 and Serbia and Montenegro on 3 April 2003. Following
the declaration of independence of the Republic of Montenegro on 3 June
2006, and in accordance with Article 60 of the Constitutional Charter
of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Republic of Serbia continues
membership of the State Union in the Council of Europe. On Friday 11
May, the Republic of Montenegro joined the Council of Europe as its 47th
member. |
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