The dignified, do-little Council of Europe is the unofficial talking box of Europe's elder statesmen and orators. If it really had the backing of the nations represented there, it would be the European equivalent of the U.S. Congress.
The Council's 125-man Consultative Assembly (equivalent in theory to the U.S. House of Representatives) meets twice yearly. Since 1949 it has contemplated issuing a common European passport, building a Jules Verne type of tunnel under the English Channel and outlawing the slogan "My country, right or wrong." But its counsels have produced little. Basically they represent a wish, not an urge.
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