Read more about the Committee of Ministers at Deputy level

The Committee of Ministers (CM) is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. Its role and functions are described in Chapter IV of the Statute. The CM meets at ministerial level and at Deputy level (the Ministers' Deputies).

In accordance with Article 14 of the Rules of Procedure of the CM, each Minister for Foreign Affairs appoints a Deputy to act on his behalf outside the meetings held at the level of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs.

The Committee of Ministers meeting at Deputy level is empowered to deal with all matters within the competence of the Committee of Ministers and to take decisions on its behalf. Decisions taken by the Deputies have the same force and effect as decisions taken by the Committee of Ministers meeting at the level of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs. The Deputies do not, however, take decisions on any matter which, in the view of one or more of them, should by reason of its political importance be dealt with by the Committee of Ministers meeting at ministerial level.

Meetings of the Deputies are organised along the following lines, whilst maintaining some flexibility:

  • 3 Deputies’ meetings per month, in principle on a Wednesday;
  • the Deputies’ Human Rights (DH) meetings, devoted to the supervision of the execution of judgments of the Court in compliance with Article 46 of the European Convention on Human Rights, take place at least 4 times a year for a duration of two or three days;
  • extraordinary meetings may be convened by the President on urgent matters.

The Deputies are assisted by the Bureau and by their rapporteur and working groups.

Next meeting (except DH)
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1497th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies
30 April 2024 09:30 - 18:00

Place : CM Room

List of documents :
Previous meetings

Back Meeting of the Ministers' Deputies on 12 and 17 October 2018

At their 1327th meeting, the Ministers' Deputies held their six-monthly review of the situation with regard to the abolition of the death penalty and took several decisions concerning Council of Europe member and observer States, as well as Belarus. In particular, the Deputies deeply deplored the two secret executions which were carried out and the two further death sentences which were confirmed in Belarus since April 2018. They reiterated their strong call to the authorities of Belarus to establish a formal moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty, to apply the alternative punishment provided for in their criminal legislation and to commute the death sentences already imposed. The Deputies deeply regretted that Japan and the United States, observer States, also continued to carry out executions. They reiterated their concern about the US Administration’s plans to fight opioid drug addiction by calling for tougher penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty where feasible under current national laws. Accordingly, they called on the authorities of these countries to promote an open and democratic debate towards the abolition of the death penalty.

Concerning the preparation and implementation of Action Plans for member States, the Deputies:

  • noted with satisfaction the final report on the implementation of the Action Plan 2015-2018 for Armenia and instructed the Secretariat to prepare a new Action Plan;
  • took note of a progress review report on the implementation of the Action Plan for Georgia 2016-2019 and welcomed the progress made in implementing it;
  • approved an Action Plan to provide assistance to Azerbaijan over the period 2018-2021.

Finally, the Deputies held exchanges of views with:

  • Ms Liliane Maury Pasquier, President of the Parliamentary Assembly, on the outcome of the 4th part of the 2018 Session (Strasbourg, 8-12 October 2018) and the forthcoming activities of the Assembly (more);
  • Mr Andreas Kiefer, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, on the forthcoming Congress Session in November, current challenges and the role of the Congress (more);
  • Mr Michael O’Flaherty, Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), in the context of the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Agreement on co-operation between the Agency and the Council of Europe.

The other items examined by the Deputies appear in the Agenda and the decisions adopted are available in the meeting file.

Strasbourg
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