INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe INGOs Conference of the Council of Europe The INGO (international non-governmental organisations) Conference is the body representing civil society in the Council of Europe, a European organisation founded in 1949. The Council of Europe has 47 member States with some 800 million citizens and its seat is in Strasbourg, France. The INGO Conference of the Council of Europe is a space for free and innovative participation of committed citizens, offering the possibility to contribute directly to the construction of Europe. It is the only assembly of NGOs playing an institutional role in an international intergovernmental organization. As the President of
Council of Europe ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is an official United Nations Observer. Unlike the EU, the Council of Europe cannot make binding laws, but it does have the power to enforce select international agreements reached by European states on various topics. The best known body of the Council of Europe is the European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights. The Council's two statutory bodies are the Committee of Ministers, comprising the foreign ministers of each member state, and the Parliamentary Assembly, composed of members