Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Logo
History
Founded	10 August 1949
Leadership
President	Theodoros Roussopoulos
Secretary General	Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis
Seats	306
Meeting place
Palace of Europe, Strasbourg, France

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is like the "parliamentary arm" of the Council of Europe. This is a big international group of 46 countries. Their main goals are to protect human rights, support democracy, and make sure laws are fair.

The Assembly has 306 members. These members are chosen from the national parliaments of the countries that are part of the Council of Europe. They meet four times a year in Strasbourg, France, for week-long meetings.

PACE is one of the two main parts of the Council of Europe. The other part is the Committee of Ministers, which represents the governments. PACE is often seen as the "engine" of the organization. It helps make sure governments respect human rights and democratic rules. It also suggests new ideas and pushes for important changes.

The first meeting of the Assembly was in Strasbourg on August 10, 1949. After World War II, many Europeans hoped that working together would prevent future wars. They saw PACE as a way to protect human rights and build strong democracies.

Some of the Assembly's biggest achievements include:

• Helping to end the death penalty in Europe. New member countries must agree to stop all executions.
• Creating the idea and plan for the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Publishing important reports about human rights problems in member countries.
• Helping former Soviet countries become democracies after 1989.
• Inspiring and helping to create many new, modern national laws.
• Helping countries solve disagreements and find common ground on tough issues.
• Choosing the Flag of Europe and the Anthem of Europe. These were later also used by the European Union.

What PACE Can Do

The main meeting hall of PACE at the Palace of Europe

Unlike the European Parliament, PACE cannot make laws that everyone must follow. However, it speaks for about 700 million Europeans. It has the power to:

• Ask the 46 governments of the Council of Europe to take action. These governments must then respond together.
• Investigate human rights problems in any member country.
• Ask Prime Ministers and Heads of State questions on any topic.
• Send its members to watch elections and help solve problems during crises.
• Set the rules for countries wanting to join the Council of Europe. It can even say "no" to a new member.
• Inspire and help create new laws in different countries.
• Ask for legal reviews of laws and constitutions in member states.
• Suggest that a member country be suspended or even removed from the Council.

PACE also has important jobs like electing the judges for the European Court of Human Rights. It also chooses the main leaders of the Council of Europe.

The Assembly usually meets four times a year in Strasbourg at the Palace of Europe. These are week-long meetings. Its nine permanent committees work all year. They prepare reports and ideas for new rules in their areas of expertise.

PACE decides what it will discuss. Its debates and reports mostly focus on the Council of Europe's main goals. These are protecting human rights, promoting democracy, and making sure the rule of law is followed.

Choosing Judges for the European Court of Human Rights

PACE chooses the judges for the European Court of Human Rights. Each member country that has agreed to the European Convention on Human Rights suggests three candidates. A special committee of 20 members, who have legal experience, interviews these candidates. They also check their backgrounds. Then, they recommend candidates to the full Assembly. The Assembly then votes secretly to choose one judge from each list. Judges serve for nine years and cannot be chosen again.

In 2004, PACE decided that countries should try to suggest both male and female candidates. Because of this, about one-third of the 46 judges are women. This makes the Court a leader in having a good balance of genders among international courts.

Major Achievements

The Start of the European Convention on Human Rights

At its very first meeting in 1949, PACE created the main plan for what became the European Convention on Human Rights. They decided which rights should be protected. They also planned how a court would make sure these rights were followed. Their detailed plan was later approved by the Council of Europe's ministers. It became law in 1953. Today, the European Court of Human Rights is a global example of justice. It protects the rights of people in 46 European countries and beyond. PACE continues to elect the judges for this Court.

The European Flag and Anthem

PACE was also behind the creation of the Flag of Europe and the Anthem of Europe. The flag has twelve yellow stars on a blue background. The anthem is a musical piece called "Ode to Joy" by Ludwig van Beethoven. PACE suggested both of these. They were first adopted by the Council of Europe. Years later, the European Union also started using them. Now, they are known worldwide as symbols of Europe.

The Flag of Europe

Many ideas for a flag were sent to the Council of Europe in the early 1950s. On September 25, 1953, PACE officially chose a flag with fifteen stars. This number represented the member countries at that time. However, there was a problem because one star was for the Saarland region, which was under French control. It rejoined Germany in 1957. Germany would have agreed to fourteen stars, but France did not like that. Two years later, after more talks, the twelve-star flag was approved by everyone. The number twelve was seen as a symbol of perfection. It was no longer linked to the number of countries. The European Union started using this flag in 1986.

The Anthem of Europe

People started suggesting an anthem for Europe almost as soon as the Council of Europe began in 1949. "Ode to Joy" was suggested in the 1920s by Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, a person who strongly believed in European unity. In 1955, he suggested it again to the Council of Europe. But it wasn't until the early 1970s that PACE's committee looked into it. The members thought an anthem was the next step after the flag (1955) and Europe Day (1964). They wanted to "spread the European idea." They decided that music without words would work best because of all the different languages in Europe. The committee agreed that Beethoven was a "great European genius" and his tune had "universal value." On July 8, 1971, PACE officially suggested "Ode to Joy" as the European anthem. The Council of Europe's ministers agreed and officially adopted it in 1972. The EU later adopted it in 1985.

Ending the Death Penalty in Europe

In 1973, a PACE member from Sweden, Astrid Bergegren, first suggested that countries should stop using the death penalty. Over the years, more and more people supported this idea. By 1980, PACE was asking parliaments in Europe to get rid of it. They said that the "right to life" in the European Convention on Human Rights meant that governments should not kill people. In 1989, PACE decided that ending executions would be a requirement for joining the Council of Europe. This happened just before many countries from Central and Eastern Europe joined. Today, the death penalty has been stopped by law in all 46 member countries during peacetime. Sometimes, people still call for it to come back, but stopping it across the continent is a big success for the Council of Europe. Now, it works with others to try and end the death penalty worldwide.

Helping New Democracies

Over many years, PACE has been very active in helping countries become democracies. It helps them join the Council of Europe, which is like a "club of democracies." PACE can say "no" to new members, so it uses this power to talk with countries about what they need to do to join. In the 1950s, it welcomed Germany after the war. In the 1960s, it took a strong stand during a crisis in Greece. In the 1970s, it welcomed Spain and Portugal after their dictatorships ended. Most importantly, after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, PACE played a key role. It created a way for former Communist countries to join, bringing European nations together.

Investigating Human Rights Concerns

In 2006 and 2007, a Swiss Senator named Dick Marty wrote two reports for PACE. He found strong evidence that people suspected of terrorism were being secretly moved to and held in hidden places in Europe. These places were run by the CIA. His first report in 2006 showed that some Council of Europe member countries had allowed secret flights through their airspace. These flights moved suspects without any legal rights. In his second report in 2007, Marty showed that two countries, Poland and Romania, had allowed these "secret prisons" on their land. His findings were later confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights and a US Senate report. This helped to shed light on a difficult time after the 11 September attacks. It also led to investigations in different countries and made it less likely for such secret activities to happen in Europe.

Actions Against the Russian Delegation

In April 2014, after Russia's actions in Crimea and the Russo-Ukrainian War, PACE decided to suspend the Russian delegation's voting rights. Russian members also lost the right to be in PACE's leadership and to observe elections. However, the Russian delegation remained members of the Assembly. This suspension lasted for the rest of 2014 and was renewed for a full year in January 2015. It ended in January 2016. This action only affected Russian members in PACE, not Russia's full membership in the Council of Europe.

In response, the Russian parliamentary delegation stopped working with PACE in June 2014. In January 2016, even though the suspension had ended, the Russian parliament decided not to send its delegation's papers for approval. This meant their seats were empty. They did this again in January 2017, 2018, and 2019.

On June 25, 2019, after a long discussion, PACE voted to change its rules. They made it clear that members should always have the right to "vote, to speak and to be represented." This was a key demand from Russia. Soon after, the Russian parliament sent papers for a new delegation. These were approved, and the Russian delegation returned to PACE with all its rights after five years. In protest, the Ukrainian delegation announced they would leave the institution. Ukraine returned to PACE in January 2020.

Russia's Expulsion from the Council of Europe

On February 25, 2022, the day after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russia's membership in the Council of Europe was suspended. This was done by the Council of Europe's ministers after talking with PACE. Suspension is not the same as being fully kicked out.

On March 15, after a full day of discussion, PACE voted for a resolution. It asked the Council of Europe's ministers to go further and "immediately" expel Russia from the Council because of its actions against Ukraine. This was the first time in PACE's history that it had made such a request.

As the discussion was ending, the Russian authorities sent a letter saying they were leaving the Council. However, since the process to expel them had already started, this was no longer legally possible. PACE continued its debate. In a unanimous vote (216 in favor, 0 against, 3 abstentions), PACE called for Russia's full expulsion. The next day, March 16, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe agreed to PACE's request. They decided that Russia would no longer be a member from that day, after 26 years.

In the months since, PACE has discussed the effects of Russia's actions against Ukraine many times. This includes legal consequences and how to support Ukraine. For example, in October 2022, PACE passed a resolution calling the Russian government a "terrorist" one. In January 2023, it asked for an international court in The Hague to try Russian and Belarusian leaders who "planned, prepared, started or carried out" the war. In June 2023, when the International Olympic Committee thought about letting Russian and Belarusian athletes compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics as "neutral individuals," PACE urged them to keep the total ban.

Important Speeches

In 2018, an online collection of all speeches given to PACE by heads of state or government since 1949 was put on the Assembly's website. This project was called "Voices of Europe." When it started, it had 263 speeches from 216 Presidents, Prime Ministers, kings, queens, and religious leaders from 45 countries over 70 years. New speeches are added regularly.

Some very early speeches by people considered "founding figures" of European groups are also included. These are people like Winston Churchill and Robert Schuman, even if they weren't heads of state at the time. Speeches by eight kings and queens are on the list, such as King Juan Carlos I of Spain and King Albert II of Belgium. There are also speeches by religious leaders like Pope John Paul II. Leaders from countries in the Middle East and North Africa, like Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, have also given speeches.

The full text of the speeches is available in both English and French, no matter what language was originally used. You can search the archive by country, by name, and by date.

Languages Used

The official languages of the Council of Europe are English and French. However, PACE also uses German and Italian for its work. Each member has headphones and a desk where they can choose which language they want to listen to. When guests from other countries want to speak in different languages, they are asked to bring their own interpreters.

Who Participates

PACE has a total of 612 members. There are 306 main members and 306 substitute members. They are chosen by the parliaments of each member country. The groups of members from each country must show the balance of political parties in their own parliament. This means they include members from both ruling parties and opposition parties. The number of representatives and votes each country gets depends on its population. This is different from the Committee of Ministers, where each country gets one vote.

Some parliaments, like those from Kyrgyzstan, Jordan, Morocco, and Palestine, have "Partner for Democracy" status. This allows their groups to take part in PACE's work, but they cannot vote. There are also observer members from the Canadian, Israeli, and Mexican parliaments.

The costs for members to participate in PACE, like travel and hotel stays, are paid by their own national parliament. A few members who are chosen to write reports for PACE have their costs covered by the Council of Europe.

Some well-known former members of PACE include:

• Former heads of state or government like Britain's wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
• Dick Marty (Switzerland), who investigated secret activities in Europe.
• Several important British politicians, including former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
• The Scottish soldier, writer, and MP Sir Fitzroy Maclean, who was a member of PACE twice.

Countries and Their Members

Delegation	Seats	Accession
Albania	4	1995
Andorra	2	1994
Armenia	4	2001
Austria	6	1956
Azerbaijan	6	2001
Belgium	7	1949
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5	2002
Bulgaria	6	1992
Croatia	5	1996
Cyprus	3	1961–1964, 1984
Czech Republic	7	1991
Denmark	5	1949
Estonia	3	1993
Finland	5	1989
France	18	1949
Germany	18	1951
Greece	7	1949–1969, 1974
Hungary	7	1990
Iceland	3	1959
Ireland	4	1949
Italy	18	1949
Latvia	3	1995
Liechtenstein	2	1978
Lithuania	4	1993
Luxembourg	3	1949
Malta	3	1965
Moldova	5	1995
Monaco	2	2004
Montenegro	3	2007
Netherlands	7	1949
North Macedonia	3	1995
Norway	5	1949
Poland	12	1991
Portugal	7	1976
Romania	10	1993
San Marino	2	1988
Serbia	7	2003
Slovakia	5	1993
Slovenia	3	1993
Spain	12	1977
Sweden	6	1949
Switzerland	6	1963
Turkey	18	1949
Ukraine	12	1995

Important Notes on Membership

• The special guest status of the National Assembly of Belarus was suspended on January 13, 1997.
• The Russian Federation stopped being a member of the Council of Europe on March 16, 2022.
• In January 2024, PACE decided not to approve the Azerbaijani delegation's papers. This stopped them from taking part in the Assembly's work.
• On January 30, 2025, Georgia's delegation to PACE announced they were immediately stopping their participation. This happened after the Assembly voted to put strict rules on approving their papers.

Parliaments with Partner for Democracy Status

Parliaments with "Partner for Democracy" status promise to work towards the basic values of the Council of Europe. They also agree to have their progress checked sometimes. In return, they can send groups to take part in the Assembly's work and its committees, but they do not have the right to vote.

Delegation	Seats	Year Partner for Democracy status granted
Jordan	3	2016
Kyrgyzstan	3	2014
Morocco	6	2011
Palestine	3	2011

Parliaments with Observer Status

Delegation	Seats	Year observer status granted
Canada	6	1996
Israel	3	1957
Mexico	6	1999

Other Delegations

The Assembly of Kosovo has been invited to send a group to take part in the Assembly's work and committees as observers. They do not have the right to vote. On April 24, 2023, the Council of Europe's ministers approved Kosovo's request to join. This allowed the request to move forward to PACE. On April 16, 2024, PACE voted in favor of Kosovo's membership. There were 131 votes for, 29 against, and 11 abstentions.

Delegation	Seats	Year invited
Kosovo	3	2016

Invited Representatives

Two representatives from the Turkish Cypriot community have been invited to join the Assembly's discussions as observers. They do not have the right to vote.

Participants	Seats	Year invited
Turkish Cypriot Community	2	2004

Political Groups in PACE

The Assembly has six political groups. These groups are made up of members who share similar political ideas.

Presidents of PACE

The President leads the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Here is a list of past and current Presidents:

Period	Name	Country	Political affiliation
1949	Édouard Herriot (interim)	France	Radical Party
1949–1951	Paul-Henri Spaak	Belgium	Socialist Party
1952–1954	François de Menthon	France	Popular Republican Movement
1954–1956	Guy Mollet	France	Socialist Party
1956–1959	Fernand Dehousse	Belgium	Socialist Party
1959	John Edwards	United Kingdom	Labour Party
1960–1963	Per Federspiel	Denmark	Venstre
1963–1966	Pierre Pflimlin	France	Popular Republican Movement
1966–1969	Geoffrey de Freitas	United Kingdom	Labour Party
1969–1972	Olivier Reverdin [de]	Switzerland	Liberal Party
1972–1975	Giuseppe Vedovato	Italy	Christian Democracy
1975–1978	Karl Czernetz [de]	Austria	Social Democratic Party
1978–1981	Hans de Koster	Netherlands	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
1981–1982	José María de Areilza	Spain	Union of the Democratic Centre
1983–1986	Karl Ahrens	Germany	Social Democratic Party
1986–1989	Louis Jung	France	Group of the European People's Party
1989–1992	Anders Björck	Sweden	European Democratic Group
1992	Geoffrey Finsberg	United Kingdom	European Democratic Group
1992–1995	Miguel Ángel Martínez Martínez	Spain	Socialist Group
1996–1999	Leni Fischer	Germany	Group of the European People's Party
1999–2002	Russell Johnston	United Kingdom	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
2002–2004	Peter Schieder	Austria	Socialist Group
2005–2008	René van der Linden	Netherlands	Group of the European People's Party
2008–2010	Lluís Maria de Puig [es]	Spain	Socialist Group
2010–2012	Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu	Turkey	European Democratic Group
2012–2014	Jean-Claude Mignon	France	Group of the European People's Party
2014–2016	Anne Brasseur	Luxembourg	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
2016–2017	Pedro Agramunt	Spain	Group of the European People's Party
2017–2018	Stella Kyriakides	Cyprus	Group of the European People's Party
2018	Michele Nicoletti	Italy	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
2018–2020	Liliane Maury Pasquier	Switzerland	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
2020–2022	Rik Daems	Belgium	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
2022–2024	Tiny Kox	Netherlands	Group of the Unified European Left
2024–present	Theodoros Roussopoulos	Greece	Group of the European People's Party

Vice-Presidents

Vice-Presidents help the President lead the Assembly.

Period	Name	Country	Political affiliation
2025–present
	Don Touhig	United Kingdom	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
	Miroslava Němcová	Czech Republic	European Conservatives, Patriots & Affiliates
	Yıldırım Tuğrul Türkeş	Turkey	Member not belonging to a Political Group
	Elisabetta Gardini	Italy	European Conservatives, Patriots & Affiliates
	Armin Laschet	Germany	Group of the European People's Party
	Antonio Gutiérrez Limones	Spain	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
	Andries Gryffroy	Belgium	Member not belonging to a Political Group
	Mogens Jensen	Denmark	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
	Bernadeta Coma	Andorra	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
	Bertrand Bouyx	France	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
	Miapetra Kumpula-Natri	Finland	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
	Marko Pavić	Croatia	Group of the European People's Party
	Agnieszka Pomaska	Poland	Group of the European People's Party
	Blerina Gjylameti	Albania	Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group
	Arusyak Julhakyan	Armenia	Group of the European People's Party
	vacant	Bosnia and Herzegovina
	vacant	Bulgaria
	vacant	Cyprus

Secretary General

In January 2021, the Assembly chose Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis as its Secretary General. She started her five-year term in March 2021.

She leads a team of about 80 people from different countries who work in Strasbourg. She is the first woman to hold this job since PACE started in 1949. She is also the first person from Greece to be Secretary General.

See also

In Spanish: Asamblea Parlamentaria del Consejo de Europa para niños

• European Cultural Convention
• Václav Havel Human Rights Prize