Photo: ODPM-MFTThe Maltese flag was raised in Strasbourg’s Place de la République in a ceremony marking the beginning of the 2025 Maltese presidency of the Council of Europe.
The ceremony officially commenced the fourth Maltese presidency of the CoE since it joined the organisation in 29 April 1965, just seven months after winning independence from Britain.
“Today’s flag-raising ceremony marks a new chapter and a solemn pledge to defend the values that unite us, to champion the rights and dignity of all people, and to uphold the mission of this great institution in word and deed,” foreign minister Ian Borg said at the ceremony.
Earlier in the day, in his capacity as president of the CoE’s Committee of Ministers, Bog also opened the first meeting of the Committee of Ministers’ Deputies under the Maltese presidency, in which he presented Malta’s programme and priorities.
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949, and is thus Europe’s oldest intergovernmental organisation: it is the first to fly the flag of Europe, which the European Union has since also made its own.
Nearly all countries with territory in Europe are members of the CoE – the only exceptions are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Russia and the Vatican.
The Committee of Ministers is its decision-making body, whose presidency is rotated among member states every six months.
Though it cannot make binding laws, the CoE has produced a number of international treaties, most notably the European Convention on Human Rights, which is incorporated in the law of many participating countries, including Malta.
