Application by Finland for membership of the Council of Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 1 February 1989
(21st Sitting) (see Doc.
5915, request for an opinion from the Committee of Ministers;
and Doc. 5985, report of the Political Affairs Committee, Rapporteur:
Mr Lied). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1
February 1989 (21st Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Having received from the Committee of Ministers a
request for an opinion on the accession of Finland to the Council
of Europe (
Doc. 5915),
in pursuance of Statutory Resolution (51) 30 A, adopted by the Committee
of Ministers on 3 May 1951;
2. Noting Finland's outstanding international and European vocation,
exemplified by the hosting in Helsinki of the signature, by thirty-five
heads of state or government, of the Final Act of the Conference
on Security and Co-operation in Europe;
3. Recognising that Finland is an old-established parliamentary
democracy and respects the principle of the rule of law, as well
as the human rights and fundamental freedoms embodied in the European
Convention on Human Rights, and that its Government is scrutinising
and adapting legislation with a view to signature of the convention,
4. Expresses the opinion that Finland should be deemed able and
willing:
i to fulfil the provisions
of Article 3 of the Statute which stipulates that "every member
of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule
of law and of the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction
of human rights and fundamental freedoms";
ii to collaborate sincerely and effectively in the realisation
of the aim of the Council of Europe as specified in Chapter I of
the Statute of the Council of Europe, thereby fulfilling the conditions
for accession to the Council of Europe, as laid down in Article
4 of the Statute;
5. Welcomes the fact that the accession of Finland to the Council
of Europe will, for the first time, make membership of the latter
and the "European democratic area" identical;
6. Proposes that the number of seats to which Finland should
be entitled in the Assembly be five.
