Member states of the Council of Europe

Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that membership is open to any European country, provided they meet specific democratic and human rights standards.

[16] Belarus applied for full membership on 12 March 1993, and its parliament held special guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly from September 1992 to January 1997.

A second change of the Belarus constitution in October 2004, moreover "does not respect minimum democratic standards and violates the principles of separation of powers and the rule of law".

[17] In June 2009, PACE decided that the suspension of the Belarusian parliament's special guest status in the Assembly would only be lifted conditional of the government imposing a moratorium on the death penalty.

The Assembly found that Kazakhstan could apply for full membership, because 4% of its territory, west of the Ural river, is located in Europe,[19] but granting Special Guest status would require improvements in the fields of democracy and human rights.

[28] Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo's Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated in December 2014 that an application for membership of the Council of Europe was planned to be filed within the first quarter of 2015.

Bakoyannis gave a statutory opinion at a meeting of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 27 March 2024.

[41][42][43][44] On 15 April 2024, the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination supported Kosovo's application[45] and the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights confirmed that Kosovo met the legal definition of "European State" as defined by article 4 of the Statute of the Council of Europe and meets the criteria of statehood under international law.

This condition was rejected by the Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in May 2024,[49] leading the final vote to be postponed to a later unspecified date.

[16] The new status is called "Partner for democracy" and interested states could obtain it if they commit to embrace the values of the Council of Europe such as pluralist democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to encourage a moratorium on executions and abolish the death penalty; to organise free and fair elections; to become party to the relevant CoE conventions; to utilise the expertise of the Assembly and the Venice Commission in its institutional and legislative work.

[16] CoE has adopted the policy of dialogue with the neighbouring regions of the southern Mediterranean, the Middle East and Central Asia – based on respect for universal human rights.

Following this policy the Assembly has already established working contacts with parliaments of neighbouring countries other than those of the CoE Observers: Algeria, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinian Legislative Council.