Committee of Ministers
The Committee of Ministers is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It is made up of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of all the Member States, or their permanent diplomatic representatives in Strasbourg.
The Committee of Ministers 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 is the guardian of the Council's fundamental values, and monitors Member States' compliance with their undertakings.
Between May and November 2022, Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers for the seventh time in the Council of Europe’s history.
As a founding member of the Council of Europe, Ireland sought to use the Presidency to reaffirm what President Higgins had called ‘the conscience of Europe’, advancing the protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law across the continent.
Over the course of these six months, Ireland chaired more than a dozen meetings of the Committee of Ministers in Strasbourg, strengthening standards across a range of key areas, from media freedoms to the protection of human rights in conflict zones.