Module 5

Pre-Reading
1.What do you know about the European Council? What are it’s main aims?
2.How many member states does the European Council have? Can you mention some of
them?
3.What do you know about Armenia’s membership in the Council of Europe?

Reading

The Council of Europe as an Intergovernmental Organisation

The European Council is an institution of the European Union. The European Council was
established as an informal body in 1975; it became an official EU institution in 2009 when the Treaty of
Lisbon entered into force.
While the European Council has no formal legislative power, it is charged under the Treaty of
Lisbon with defining "the general political directions and priorities" of the Union. It is thus the Union's
strategic (and crisis solving) body, acting as the collective presidency of the EU. The meetings of the
European Council, commonly referred to as EU summits, are chaired by its president and take place at
least twice every six months; usually in the Justus Lipsius building, the headquarters of the Council of the
European Union in Brussels. 
As from 1 November 2014, a qualified majority shall be defined as at least 55 % of the members of
the Council, comprising at least fifteen of them and representing Member States comprising at least
65 % of the population of the Union. A blocking minority must include at least four Council members.
The first summits of EU heads of state or government were held in February and July 1961 (in Paris
and Bonn respectively). They were informal summits of the leaders of the European Community  and
were started due to then-French President  Charles de Gaulle’s resentment at the domination of
supranational institutions (e.g. the European Commission) over the integration process, but petered out.
The first influential summit held, after the departure of De Gaulle, was The Hague  summit of 1969,
which reached an agreement on the admittance of the United Kingdom into the Community and
initiated foreign policy cooperation taking integration beyond economics.
The Council of Europe is an intergovernmental organisation which aims
 to protect human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law in all member states;
 to promote awareness and encourage the development of Europe's cultural identity and diversity;
 to seek solutions to problems facing European society (discrimination against minorities,
xenophobia, intolerance, environmental protection, human cloning, Aids, drugs, terrorism,
organised crime, etc.);
 to help consolidate democratic stability in Europe by backing political, legislative and
constitutional reform nationally, regionally and locally;
 to promote social cohesion and social rights.
The Council of Europe covers all major issues facing European society other than defence. Its work
programme includes the following fields of activity: human rights, media, legal co-operation, social
cohesion, health, education, culture, heritage, sport, youth, local democracy and transfrontier co-
operation, the environment and regional planning.
The Council of Europe's work leads to European conventions and agreements in the light of which
member states may subsequently harmonise and amend their own legislation to comply with them.
Some conventions and agreements are also open for adoption by non-member states. The results of
studies and activities are available to governments in order to foster co-operation and social progress in
Europe. The Council of Europe also adopts partial agreements, a form of "variable geometry" co-
operation, which allow a number of states to carry out a specific activity of common interest with the
consent of other members.

The Republic of Armenia applied to join the Council of Europe on 7 March 1996. The Armenian
Parliament was granted Special Guest Status with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
on 26 January 1996. In 2000 Armenia was invited to become a member of the Council of Europe by the
CoE Committee of Ministers Resolution Res(2000)13. In 2001, January 25 Armenia became a full
member of the Council of Europe and, in accordance with Article 13 of the Parliamentary Assembly
Opinion No. 221(2000), has undertaken the following commitments upon its accession to the Council of
Europe.
 conventions:
 to sign and ratify, within one year of its accession, the European Convention for the
Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its protocols;
 to sign and ratify, within one year of its accession, the European Charter for Regional or
Minority Languages;
 to sign and ratify, within one year of its accession, the European Charter of Local Self-
Government;
 to sign and ratify, within two years of its accession, the European Outline Convention on
Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities and its additional
protocols, and the Council of Europe conventions on extradition, on mutual assistance in
criminal matters, on laundering, search, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds from crime,
and on the transfer of sentenced persons, and in the meantime to apply the fundamental
principles contained therein;
 the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh:
  to pursue efforts to settle this conflict by peaceful means only;
 to use its considerable influence over the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh to foster a solution
to the conflict;
 to settle international and domestic disputes by peaceful means and according to the
principles of international law (an obligation incumbent on all Council of Europe member
states), resolutely rejecting any threatened use of force against its neighbours.

The Council of Europe Office in Yerevan

Following Armenia’s accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, an Information Office of
the Council of Europe was founded in Yerevan, Armenia, in December 2002. The CoE Information Office
was officially opened on 8 July 2003 and operated in Armenia until its closure on 31 December 2010.
During this period, the  Information Office disseminated information concerning CoE activities and goals,
organized events and seminars, and translated and published CoE texts and documents.
Since December 2002, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe has also appointed his
Special Representative to the Republic of Armenia. The Special Representative of the Secretary General
(SRSG) was tasked to establish necessary contacts with national authorities, the international
community, and with representatives of civil society; and to promote CoE policies and activities related
to Armenia’s membership to the CoE, especially in its commitments and obligations.
The new status of the CoE Office provides for an enhanced cooperation between Yerevan and
Strasbourg, including through locally managed projects in the areas of human rights, rule of law, and
democracy. The Office in Yerevan facilitates the implementation of CoE country-specific programmes, as
well as regional and joint programmes with the EU and other donors, based on the 2012-2014 CoE
Action Plan for Armenia which is a package of priority actions aimed at assisting Armenia to bring its
legislation, institutions, and practice in line with European standards. In this process, the Office closely
cooperates with Armenian authorities, the international community, and civil society in Armenia to
ensure effective assistance.

Glossary

1. Treaty պայմանագիր, դաշնագիր

  2.Priority առաջնահերթություն
3.Resentment զայրույթ, վրդովմունք

4.Peter out պակասել, սպառվել

5.Intolerance անհանդուրժողություն
  6.To back աջակցե, պաշտպանել
7.Social cohesion հասարակական համախմբվածություն
8.To comply ենթարկվել, համաձայնել
9.Convention պայմանագիր, համաձայնագիր
10.To foster նպաստել, խթանել
11.To ratify հաստատել, վավերացնել
12.Disseminate տարածել, սերմանել

Post – Reading

1.According to the text

a.The European Council has formal legislative power. True False Not Given
b.The meetings of the European Council are chaired by its president. True False Not given
c.In September, the Convention on Human Rights entered into force. True False Not Given
d.European Youth Centre was founded in 1967. True False Not Given

e.The European Council promotes social cohesion and rights. True False Not Given

2.Complete the sentences with details from the text

a.The Council of Europe covers all major issues facing......................................................

b.In 1996 Armenia applied ................................................................
c.Armenia should pursue efforts to settle the ...........................................................
d.Since December 2002, the Secretary General............................................................
e.The European Council became an official EU institution...................................................

3.Give the Amenian equivalents of the folowing word-combinations.

The Council of Europe, European Union, member states, informal body, official institution,
strategic body, intergovernmental organisation, cultural identity, political and constitutional
reform, non-governmental organisation, solution to the conflict.

4.Complete the senteneces with one of the given words.

(pluralist democracy, informal body, was based, the Council of Europe,
summits,)

a.Set up on 5 May 1949 by ten countries............................................ now has 47 member states.

b.The European Council was established as an ............................................ in 1975.
c.The first ............................ of EU heads of state were held in February 1961.
d.The seat of the Council of Europe ...................................in Brussels.
e.The Council of Europe aims to protect ........................................ in all member states.
5.Look over the text to find answers to the following questions.

a.What kind of organisation is the European Council?

b.How many member states are there in the European Council now?
c.When was the European Council established and by which countries?
d.When did Armenia become a full member of the Council of Europe?

6.Arrange the words under the following groups.

Institution, comprise, treaty, charge, political, priority, collective, presidency, summit, specify,
qualified, informal, domination, supranational, influential, cooperation, integration, define,
usual, aim, development, invironmental, cloning, stability, heritage, harmonise.

Noun Verb Adjective

7.In front of each word or phrase write the number of the appropriate definition

a. To ratify ...............................
b.Summit .................................
c.Treaty .................................
d.To promote .................................
e.Convention .................................

1.To help the progress of something, to support something.

2.Meeting between the heads of 2 or more governments.
3.A formal agreement between 2 or more countries.
4.A conference of members of a political party, etc.
5.To make an agreement officially valid.

8. Translate the following sentences from Armenian into English.

1.Եվրախորհուրդը միջկառավարական կազմակերպություն է, որը նպատակ ունի

զարգացնելու բազմալեզությունը և խրախուսելու մշակութային անհատականության
զարգացումը:
2.Եվրախորհրդի աշխատանքային ծրագիրը ներառում է գործունեության հետևյալ
ոլորտները՝ մարդու իրավունքներ, օրինական համագործակցություն, սոցիալական
հարակցում և օկրուգային նախագծում:
3.Հայաստանի Հանրապետությունը դիմել է Եվրախորհրդին միանալու համար 1996
թ.-ի մարտի 7-ին և ստացել Հատուկ Հյուրի կարգավիճակ Եվրախորհրդի
Խորհրդարանի կողմից:
4.2001 թ.-ի Հունվարի 25 –ին Հայաստանը դարձել է Եվրախորհրդի լիարժեք անդամ և
համաձայն Խորհրդարանի 13 –րդ հոդվածի՝ ստանձնել մի շարք
պարտավորություններ:
9.Render the text in Armenian and underline more than ten key-words from it.

The Nagorno Karabakh dispute is complex and multilayered. It is a conflict on the personal,
national, state, and international level, posing a compound challenge of understanding. It was
to meet that challenge that the 2013 Field Trip soughtan on-the-ground exposure to conditions
and viewpoints of the three conflicting entities, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno Karabakh
throughout the fall 2012 semester and then in the field between 15 and 26 January 2013, where
the group of 16 upper level graduate students with two professors was given full tours and
briefings by the hostauthorities. In addition to officials, and notably Foreign Ministers, we are
particularly grateful to the Center for Strategic Studies and the Caucasus Institute of Armenia.
The conflict emerged in the dying days of the Soviet Union, in 1988, in a peaceful call for
independence that immediately escalated to inter-ethnic violence. On the human level the result
was the rupture of longstanding personal relations and the expulsion of 1.5 million people from
their homes as either Internally Displaced Persons or Refugees into new and often
salubrious locations. Given attitudes in their former neighborhoods, it is impossible for many of
these people to return to their homes and homelands, and although many say they want to, most
are concerned above all about conditions of life wherever they are. The trigger for the conflict
in 1988 was the call of ethnic Armenians in NagornoKarabakh for national self-determination,
written as independence or integration into Armenia. The population of the Soviet Oblast of
Nagorno Karabakh was some 70% Armenian; the rest were Azebaijanis, and Armenians lived
here and there elsewhere in Azerbaijan. The call attracted an Azerbaijani military response
initially successful,but by 1993 the Nagorno Karabakh forces, aided directly or indirectly by Ar
menians and Russians, had not only retaken their oblast’s territory but also an even greater
amount of territory around Nagorno Karabakh falling outside the autonomous oblast and
inhabited primarily by Azerbaijanis, giving the Mountainous Black or Beautiful Garden
defensible boundaries and contiguity with Armenia. No state, including Armenia, has recognized
the claims of independence, although Armenia supports the Nagorno Karabakh position and
works closely with the now-self governing territory.
 Russia's re-emergence as an arbiter of the conflicts in what it terms its "near abroad" may
not be enough to put an end to the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. A solution to conflicts involving
identity cannot be imposed by force. The deployment of peace-keeping forces serves only to
make ethnic conflicts latent - they always remain on the verge of new and violent eruptions. A
lasting settlement of an ethnic conflict requires not only an international process of negotiation
between the warring parties, but also thorough going political changes internally. The Iranian
government seems to be aware of the limits on its ability to deal with the conflict. It is therefore
seeking to co-ordinate its efforts with other regional or non-regional players. The first priority
seems to be co-operation with Russia in order to prevent the spread of Turkey's influence to the
region (and, indirectly, NATO's). But Iran may also choose another alternative: it may try to co-
ordinate its efforts with Turkey. This policy alternative does indeed have some advocates among
the ruling elite in Iran, but it would be difficult to implement. Any co-ordination of Iranian-
Turkish policies in the region would certainly depend to a large extent on the attitude of the US,
and on Turkey's dependence on the American government. Iran is also striving for closer co-
operation with the European Union on the issues of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The
Caucasus has always been the scene of rivalry between Russia, Turkey and Iran. Co-ordination
between these three states would facilitate a long-term solution for Nagorno-Karabakh. The
exclusion of any one of these regional powers from the mediation process, on the other hand,
could delay the settlement of the conflict or could even make any peace impossible. No warring
party should overlook this fact.