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marked the disappearance of the last authoritarian regime in western Europe. Portugal had made its Council of Europe debut on 22 September 1976, two years after its peaceful revolution of April 1974, bringing an end to 48 years of Salazarist dictatorship, while the death of General Franco in 1975 eventually led to Spain's accession on 24 November 1977.
The Council of Europe's permanent role on the European political and institutional scene was sealed on 28 January 1977 with its move from its provisional premises to the Palais de l'Europe, designed by the French architect Bernard.
Liechtenstein's accession on 23 November 1978, San Marino's on 16 November 1988 and Finland's on 5 May 1989 more or less completed the absorption of west European states while the Council of Europe was already laying the foundations for a rapprochement with the countries of central and eastern Europe.
A further, critical stage in the Council of Europe's life started in 1985 with the first movements to introduce democracy to central and eastern Europe. In January of that year Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, invited his colleagues to take part in an extraordinary session devoted entirely to East-West relations. This process of reflection, that took account of the trend emerging in Eastern Europe - in Romania and Poland, and in the Soviet Union, where Mikhail Gorbachov had just come to power - gave rise to the notion of a European cultural identity, which became the subject of a resolution in April 1985. Convinced that unity in diversity was the basis of the wealth of Europe's heritage, the Council of Europe noted that their common tradition and European identity did not stop at the boundaries between the various political systems; it stressed, in the light of the CSCE Final Act, the advantage of consolidating cultural co-operation as a means of promoting a lasting understanding between peoples and between governments. The Eastern European countries grasped this outstretched hand with enthusiasm.
Rapprochement had at last become not only possible but necessary. The Council of Europe was naturally delighted by the process of democratisation set in motion in the East, together with the economic and social reforms introduced in the name of perestroika. It was the Council's role and purpose to support this trend, to help make it irreversible, and to fulfil the expectations of the countries calling upon it for assistance. Not of course by renouncing its principles but, on the contrary, by making them a precondition for any form of co-operation.
An antechamber
This became the Council of Europe's guiding principle, as reflected in the Committee of Ministers' change of course set out in its declaration of 5 May 1989. The new direction represented both an achievement and a first step, and was the outcome of a number of exchanges (the Secretary General's visit to Hungary, then Poland; the visits by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly to Budapest and Warsaw, and the visits to Strasbourg of delegations and experts from the USSR and other East European countries). This new departure gave momentum to a process that was to continue to accelerate, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations.
Eastern European countries were now knocking impatiently at the door of the Council of Europe, that guardian of human rights; the organisation became a kind of antechamber for negotiating the transition from dictatorship and democracy, as had previously been the case with Portugal and Spain.
It is no coincidence that the first address by a Soviet leader to an assembly of Western European parliamentarians should have taken place at the Council of Europe. Mikhail Gorbachov chose this particular chamber - on 6 July 1989 - to put forward a new disarmament proposal (unilateral reduction of short-range nuclear missiles), to promote the idea of a Common European Home (non-use of force, renunciation of the Brezhnev doctrine and maintenance of socialism), and to discuss human rights (albeit without referring to the European Convention!).
The Council of Europe started to open its gates very carefully. In 1989, the Parliamentary Assembly established the very selective special guest status for the national assemblies of countries willing to apply the Helsinki final act and the United Nations Covenant on Human Rights. The status was immediately granted to the assemblies of Hungary, Poland, USSR and Yugoslavia and opened the way to the full accession of the former Soviet bloc countries.
Four months after Mikhail Gorbachov's address the Berlin wall fall on 9 September 1989. This provided the opportunity for the Council of Europe's Secretary General to state, on 23 November, that the Council was the only organisation capable of encompassing all the countries of Europe, once they had adopted democratic rules. This marked the start of the organisation's new political role.
From the fall of the Berlin wall to the Vienna summit
Referring to his country's accession to the Council of Europe on 6 November 1990, the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs said that the event marked the first step in the re-establishment of the unity of the continent.
Special programmes were rapidly introduced to meet the most pressing needs and allow the new European partners, both before and after their accession, to draw on a shared fund of knowledge and experience to enable them to complete their democratic transition. These programmes were dubbed Demosthenes, Themis and Lode and focused on the key areas of reform: how to design new constitutions, bring domestic legislation into line with the European Convention on Human Rights, reorganise the civil service, establish an independent judiciary and an independent media, encourage local democracy. In other words, how to become a full member of the European democratic and legal community.
On 4 May 1992, François Mitterrand addressed the Parliamentary Assembly in a session largely devoted to integrating the countries of central and eastern Europe in the building of a new Europe. Why, he asked, should all the heads of state and government of the Council of Europe's member countries not meet every two years, alternating with meetings of the CSCE? The proposal was adopted at least in part and Austria, which chaired the Committee of Ministers between May and November 1993, offered to organise and host the summit.
The summit was held in Vienna on 8 and 9 October 1993 and confirmed and extended the policy of opening up and enlargement. It also identified three priorities, starting with the reforme of the European Convention on Human Rights machinery to make it more expeditious and effective. This is the subject of the Convention's Protocol no 11. The Vienna summit also laid great emphasis on the protection of national minorities, which was to lead to the adoption of a framework convention less than two years later, and combating intolerance.
Thus with its new-found role of offering a home to all the countries of Europe willing to opt for democracy, thereby establishing a continent-wide democratic security area, the Council of Europe has used the years since Vienna to develop and refine the undertakings which any applicant country for membership must be willing to accept.
The Council of Europe in an enlarged Europe
The arrival of the Russian Federation in February 1996 meant that the institution had finally become fully pan-European. Henceforth, more than 700 million citizens would be concerned in building the new Europe. The Council's activities are now having to adapt to an environment that is not only wider and more diverse but also more complex and less stable. This is changing the nature of its co-operation programmes.
Support and monitoring activities are being strengthened. More attention is being paid to what happens on the ground, for example via confidence measures or campaigns to combat intolerance. New priorities are emerging such as migration, corruption, the right to be granted nationality, social exclusion and minorities. The dual machinery for protecting human rights will be replaced on 1 Novembre 1998 by a single Court, housed in the Human Rights Building designed by the British architect Richard Rogers and inaugurated in June 1995.
At the same time several other European or North Atlantic institutions have been increasing their co-operation with the countries of central and eastern Europe, offering the prospect of closer integration. The work under the auspices of the intergovernmental conference of the European Union and NATO summit held in Madrid, show that European co-operation will continue to develop.
As it approaches its fiftieth anniversary, the Council of Europe, with its 41 members, will also be required to clarify how it sees its future role as a focus for democratic security and the proponent of a European model of society. A second summit was held for this purpose on 10 and 11 October 1997. The Strasbourg Summit, held at the Council of Europe headquarters and hosted by the French Presidency, gave the 40 Heads of State and Government an opportunity to assess the positive contribution which the Council had made to stability in Europe by admitting new countries, running programmes to help them make the transition to democracy and monitoring all its members' compliance with their obligations. The Summit adopted a Final Declaration and an Action Plan, fixing the Organisation's priorities in the years ahead, and gave reform of its structures the green light.
How the Council of Europe works
The Council of Europe comprises:
• a decision making body: the Committee