Four meetings a year
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe discusses timely matters and presents initiatives, on the basis of which the Committee of Ministers makes decisions. Assembly initiatives have been behind the most important Council of Europe conventions, such as the European Human Rights Convention (1950) and the European Social Charter (1961). Assembly discussions, reports and studies have led to changes in national legislation in such areas as the family and civil society, administrative law, consumer protection, animal testing, minority rights, and drug and alcohol policies.
The Assembly meets four times each year, in January, April, June and October. Sessions last about a week and take place at the seat of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (the Palais de l'Europe). In January the Assembly elects the President and 19 Vice-Presidents and appoints nine committees. The Bureau includes the President, the Vice-Presidents and the chairs of the political groups. Representatives serve a one-year term, beginning at the start of the January session.
Sessions are public and are webcast live. There is a link to webcasts on the Assembly's front page (when it is in session).
The Assembly has nine standing committees, which have been mandated to deal with political affairs; social, health and family affairs; legal affairs and human rights; culture, science and education; migration, refugees and population; equality and non-discrimination; rules of procedure; and the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states (Monitoring Committee) and a committee also handles the election of judges to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Bureau includes the President and Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the chairpersons of the political groups. The Standing Committee comprises the members of the Bureau together with the committee chairpersons and the chairpersons of the political groups and national delegations. It meets at least three times a year and makes decisions for the Assembly between sessions. The Joint Committee includes representatives of the Assembly and the Committee of Ministers, which is the Council of Europe's decision-making body.
The Finnish delegation appoints one member and one alternate to nine of the committees and their subcommittees. The memberships of the three committees (the Monitoring Committee, Committee on Rules of Procedure, Immunities and Institutional Affairs and Committee on the Election of Judges to the European Court of Human Rights) are decided on a proposal from the political groups.
The official languages of the Council of Europe are English and French. The Council of Europe has its headquarters in Strasbourg. The Secretariat has a staff of about 1,300 persons.