Extract from the minutes of the Conference on the establishment of a Council of Europe, held at St James’s Palace in London from 3 to 5 May 1949, concerning the issue of the name of the organisation.

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 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.

Ernest Bevin, British Foreign Secretary, delivers the inaugural address at the ceremony held to mark 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.

The signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe takes place on 5 May 1949 at St James’s Palace, London.

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

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. It enters into force on 3 August 1949.

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.

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.

The final pages of the Statute of the Council of Europe bearing the signatures of the representatives of the ten founding member States.

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.

On 5 May 1949, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung focuses on the diplomatic negotiations that seek to establish political cooperation between the democratic states of Western Europe and to establish a Council of Europe.

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 28 May 1949, the Luxembourg Communist daily newspaper Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek portrays the British plans for European unification as an attempt by the United States to shield Western Europe from Soviet influence.

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 3 August 1949, the Head of the Treaty Department of the British Foreign Office delivers a certificate on the entry into force of the Statute of the Council of Europe on behalf of the Government of the United Kingdom, depositary of the instruments of ratification.

‘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.

General Agreement on Privileges and Immunities of the Council of Europe, signed in Paris on 2 September 1949 and coming into force on 10 September 1952. According to Article 1 of the Agreement, the Council of Europe possesses juridical personality.

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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.