Part II Institutions, s.1 Statute-based Institutions, 7 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Subject(s):

Democracy — Responsibility of international organizations — Rule of law

This chapter discusses the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (the Assembly). The Assembly is one of the Council’s two statutory bodies, whose ostensible role is to act as the Council’s ‘deliberative organ’, discussing and making recommendations on any issues falling within the Council’s aim and scope. Yet it is a body with few hard powers, providing an essentially advisory role to the Council of Ministers (CM). This chapter aims to elucidate the Assembly’s objectives and functions, its composition and working methods, before seeking to analyse a number of its principal roles and activities. As the Assembly’s work is quite extensive, the chapter will only be covering key areas — including the State accession and monitoring process, standard-setting, its influence on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), and the observation of elections.