Claim: Spain is a country.

The Council of Europe -LRB- CoE ; Conseil de l'Europe -RRB- is an international organisation whose stated aim is to uphold human rights , democracy , rule of law in Europe and promote European culture . Founded in 1949 , it has 47 member states , covers approximately 820 million people and operates with an annual budget of approximately half a billion euros .   The organisation is distinct from the 28-nation European Union -LRB- EU -RRB- , although it is sometimes confused with it , partly because the EU has adopted the original European Flag which was created by the Council of Europe in 1955 , as well as the European Anthem . No country has ever joined the EU without first belonging to the Council of Europe . Council of Europe is an official United Nations Observer .   Unlike the EU , the Council of Europe can not 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 of the national parliaments of each member state . The Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent institution within the Council of Europe , mandated to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the member states . The Secretary General heads the secretariat of the organisation . Other major CoE bodies include the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines .   The headquarters of the Council of Europe are in Strasbourg , France . English and French are its two official languages . The Committee of Ministers , the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress also use German , Italian , Russian , and Turkish for some of their work .