Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (French: "Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe") or commonly the Committee of Ministers (French: "Comité des ministres") is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Foreign Affairs Ministers of all the member states, or their permanent diplomatic representatives in Strasbourg. It is both a governmental body, where national approaches to problems facing European society can be discussed on an equal footing, and a collective forum, where Europe-wide responses to such challenges are formulated. In collaboration with the Parliamentary Assembly, it
Member states of the Council of Europe Central Asian Kazakhstan, as well as some of the states with limited recognition. Special Guest status with the Parliamentary Assembly was established in 1989, as a provisional status in the accession process for parliaments of European non-member states, which applied for membership in the Council of Europe. The aim of the special guest status is to foster closer relations with the national parliaments of the European non-member states, by enabling the parliament concerned to be represented in, and work with, the Assembly, especially in determining the accession conditions. Belarus applied for full membership on 12 March 1993, and its parliament