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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 of Ministers

. a deliberative body: the Parliamentary Assembly

. a voice for local democracy: the Congress of Local and Regional

Authorities of Europe

Each of these three bodies, whose function is briefly described below, has its own Internet site.

In exceptional circumstances, political impetus for the organisation may come from a summit of its member countries' heads of state and government. This occurred with the Vienna summit in 1993 and the

Strasbourg Summit in 1997.

The various bodies are assisted by an International Secretariat of some 1500 officials from all the member countries. They are headed by a Secretary General whose is elected by the Parliamentary Assembly for a five year term.

The Committee of Ministers

The Committee of Ministers is the decision-making body of the Council of Europe. It directly represents the governments of the member States.

It is composed of the Minister for foreign affairs of each member

State. The Minister may be represented by an alternate who is either a member of government or a senior diplomat.

The chairmanship of the Committee changes with each six-month session, in the English alphabetical order of the member States.

The Committee meets twice a year at ministerial level, once in April or

May and again in November. The day-to-day work of the Committee is conducted by the Ministers' Deputies. Each minister appoints a Deputy, who usually also acts as the Permanent Representative of the member

State.

The Ministers' Deputies meet in plenary two to three times a month.

Their decisions have the same authority as the Committee of Ministers.

The conduct of meetings of the Ministers and their Deputies is governed by the Statute and rules of procedure.

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