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.

On 3 May 1949, two days after the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe, the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool gives an initial outline of the organisation and objectives of the Council of Europe.

On 5 May 1949, in London, the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom sign the Statute of the Council of Europe.

On 5 May 1949 in London, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, signs the Statute of the Council of Europe.

On 5 May 1949, at the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe in London, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister Joseph Bech emphasises the need for the peoples of Europe to commit themselves to the unification of the Continent.

On 5 May 1949, commenting on the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe in London, the Italian Foreign Minister, Count Carlo Sforza, presents the new institution as an instrument of peace in the service of European unification.

On 5 May 1949, at the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe in London, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman calls for a revival of the European spirit and hails the dawn of new political cooperation in Europe.

Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, delivers the inaugural address at the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949 in London. On this occasion, he declares that the new institution has given the peoples of Europe new hope.

On 5 May 1949 in St James’s Palace, London, the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty establishing the Council of Europe.

On 5 May 1949, in London, ten countries sign the Statute of the Council of Europe which aims to establish European cooperation in the political, economic, social, cultural, scientific, legal and administrative spheres. The Statute enters into force on 3 August 1949.

Diagram showing the organisation and operation of the Council of Europe according to the provisions of the Statute of the Council of Europe of 5 May 1949.

On 7 May 1949, commenting on the signing of the Treaty establishing the Council of Europe in London two days earlier, the French daily newspaper Le Monde analyses the powers and the role of the Strasbourg institution.

On 14 and 21 July 1949, addressing the Italian Parliament, Carlo Sforza, Italian Foreign Minister, emphasises the importance of the Council of Europe for the European integration process.

On 10 August 1949, the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe meets for the first time in Strasbourg. The following day, the Belgian Socialist delegate and former Foreign Minister, Paul-Henri Spaak, is elected President of the Assembly.

On 10 August 1949, the day of the first session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro emphasises the symbolic value of the institution, whilst also highlighting its limited political influence.

On 18 August 1949, the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel comments on the first sitting of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949.

On 8 August 1949, Léon Blum, founder of the French Socialist daily newspaper Le Populaire, expresses his enthusiasm following the creation of the Council of Europe, placing particular emphasis on the role that European Socialism will play in the work of the future Assembly.

The constituent meeting of the Council of Europe takes place on 10 August 1949. Among those taking part are Paul-Henri Spaak, Carlo Sforza, Edouard Herriot, Ernest Bevin and Robert Schuman.

On 18 August 1949, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit expresses its enthusiasm for the establishment of the Council of Europe and emphasises the key role of those who are to comprise the future Consultative Assembly, at the same time stressing the importance of associating Germany with the forthcoming undertaking.

‘A Strasbourg production: Europa and the bull.’ On 18 August 1949, the cartoonist Pictor wonders what role the Council of Europe might play in support of West Germany’s integration within Western Europe.

On 25 August 1949, commenting on the work of the newly founded Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit draws attention to the weighty legacy of the Nation-State concept as the establishment of a united Europe is debated, and it calls on the delegates to make an active commitment to European integration.

‘Germany enters the Council of Europe.’ On 25 May 1950, the German cartoonist Leger speculates on whether the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) will become a full member of the Council of Europe.

On 13 June 1950, Heinrich von Brentano, President of the Parliamentary Party of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), gives an address in the Bundestag in support of the ratification of the Treaty establishing the Council of Europe, also known as the Treaty of London.

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).

In September 1952, the British cartoonist, David Low, takes an ironic look at the joint efforts of Paul-Henri Spaak (left), Belgian Foreign Minister, and Robert Schuman (right), French Foreign Minister, to persuade their British counterpart, Anthony Eden (centre), to take part in the first steps of the Council of Europe, despite his fears and hesitations.

The ‘Maison de l’Europe’ (House of Europe) in Strasbourg was the seat of the Council of Europe until 1977, before the Palais de l’Europe (Palace of Europe) was built.

In his memoirs, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) in 1947, describes the atmosphere at the opening of the inaugural sitting of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on 10 August 1949.

This archive film shows the early days of the Council of Europe in 1949 following the Congress of the European Movements held in The Hague in May 1948.

In this interview, Paul Collowald, former journalist on the daily newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien and former European correspondent in Alsace for the daily newspaper Le Monde, describes the attitude of the people of Strasbourg towards the establishment of the Council of Europe in their city, with particular reference to the first sitting of the Consultative Assembly in the main lecture hall of the University on 10 August 1949.

In this interview recorded in 1971, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Paneuropean Union, refers to the establishment of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) in 1947.

On 16 November 2005, in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe commemorates the 50th anniversary of the adoption, by its Committee of Ministers, of the blue flag with a circle of 12 gold stars, also adopted in June 1985 at the Milan European Council by the 10 Member States of the European Community. On this occasion, addresses are given by René van der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Terry Davies, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

In this interview, Gaston Thorn, former Member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe and of the Assembly of Western European Union (WEU), refers to the role of these deliberative assemblies in the development of a European spirit and of an awareness of the political, economic and military implications of a united Europe.