On 23 October 1946, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and President of the United Nations General Assembly, gives the opening address at the second session of the Assembly in Flushing Meadow, New York.

During the debate on the 1948 budget at the Belgian Foreign Ministry, Paul-Henri Spaak announces his support for rapid and close political and economic cooperation between Western European States.

On 13 March 1948, in Luxembourg, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, delivers an address during which he describes cooperation between European States as the best means of countering the Soviet threat.

This archive film portrays the origins and the early days of the Council of Europe in 1949 following the Congress of Europe held in The Hague in May 1948.

On 2 May 1951, the Federal Republic of Germany becomes a full member of the Council of Europe. On the margins of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the French delegate, Pierre Henri Teitgen (standing, centre) congratulates the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer (seated), watched by Walter Hallstein, Junior Minister in the German Foreign Ministry (standing, left).

Pierre Gerbet, Emeritus University Professor at the Paris Institute of Political Science, outlines the origins, powers and responsibilities, operating method and political development of the Council of Europe.