From the European movement to government negotiations
After the Second World War, initiatives for European cooperation came from governments and transnational civic groups. The 1948 Congress of Europe in The Hague proposed a common assembly and human-rights safeguards, after which France and Belgium advanced intergovernmental consultations. The dispute concerned the limits of authority: the French and Belgian side sought stronger European union, while Britain preferred consultation retaining national leadership.
The final design placed a Committee of Ministers alongside a Consultative Assembly. The ten London signatories were Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The new institution preserved governmental decision-making while making parliamentary-style debate a permanent part of international cooperation.
Signature, entry into force and initial meetings
The ten states signed the Statute of the Council of Europe in London on 5 May 1949. It entered into force on 3 August after the required ratifications. The Committee of Ministers first met in Strasbourg, France, on 8 August, and the Consultative Assembly opened on 10 August. Signature, entry into force and the start of meetings were separate stages of establishment.
British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin supported locating the headquarters in Strasbourg, symbolizing Franco-German reconciliation. Initial facilities were nevertheless concrete and limited: ministers used the city hall, while the Assembly met in a university auditorium. Delegations, secretarial services and meetings had to be accommodated in existing urban spaces; a complete permanent institution did not appear on signing day.
Governments, parliamentarians and the Secretariat
The original statute provided for foreign ministers or substitute representatives in the Committee of Ministers, with one vote per country. The Consultative Assembly discussed questions and made recommendations but could not legislate directly for states. The Committee could promote conventions, common policies and recommendations to governments and request accounts of follow-up. Proposals therefore required institutional consultation and national acceptance.
The Secretariat served both organs. In August 1949, the Assembly elected Jacques-Camille Paris as first secretary-general and Aubrey Halford as his deputy. They came respectively from French and British diplomatic institutions, reflecting a personnel balance among founding countries. The 1951 statutory report showed ministerial advisers regularly preparing governmental decisions, while expert meetings advanced legal, social and cultural questions.
Sharing costs and establishing workplaces
Article 38 separated national delegates' costs from common expenses. Each state paid for its representatives at meetings; members shared Secretariat and other common costs in proportions determined by the Committee of Ministers with regard to population. The secretary-general prepared annual budgets for ministerial approval, and Assembly requests for activities exceeding the budget also required consideration.
The statutory report recorded a 1950 budget of 603 million francs: 276 million for recurrent expenditure and 327 million for new buildings and equipment. The approved 1951 budget was approximately 558 million francs. Initial resources thus supported not only convention negotiations but also premises capable of sustaining meetings and administration.
How the human-rights convention took shape
The Assembly's Recommendation 38 of 1949 turned human-rights advocacy into a negotiable proposal. It called for a convention providing collective guarantees, listed rights including personal security and freedom of thought and expression, and proposed a court and human-rights commission. This institutional list was an Assembly recommendation, not identical to the final treaty subsequently accepted by governments.
The 1951 statutory report records the revisions in detail. In November 1950, the Committee of Ministers considered Assembly comments on the draft convention and accepted a slightly amended preamble. Property, education and political rights were left for a protocol because governments requested further study. The convention was signed in Rome on 4 November 1950, while government experts continued drafting supplementary provisions. Common standards emerged through repeated proposals, revisions and compromises.
Extending cooperation into continuing work
Cooperation also required links with existing international institutions. Arrangements reported in 1951 provided for the OEEC to supply the Council of Europe with progress reports on economic questions and for information exchange to reduce duplication. In social security, the Committee of Ministers requested members' questionnaire responses to the International Labour Organization and invited that organization to compare national social-security costs. These remained research and coordination steps, not an already implemented uniform system.
The Council thus developed cooperation chiefly through recommendations, expert research, governmental negotiations and conventions. Its practical influence depended on connections between common texts and national action; signature did not automatically mean entry into force or implementation. Its own statute and institutions provide the basis for understanding this beginning, rather than powers of other European organizations projected back onto 1949.