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Council of Europe

Council of Europe

Strasbourg, France European and Co-ordinated Organizations Founded 1949

Pay system, contracts & programmes

How pay and appointments work at Council of Europe.

Co-ordinated Organizations system
European and Co-ordinated Organizations operate their own harmonized salary and benefits system, separate from the UN common system. How Co-ordinated Organisation pay works ›

Salary & benefits at Council of Europe

The Council of Europe runs four grade categories — C for support roles, B for technical and executive work, A for policy and management, and L for linguists — and pays each of them differently in each country it has offices in. Every figure below is a net monthly salary, after social security and pension contributions, for someone at the first step of the grade. Council of Europe salaries are exempt from national income tax in member states.

Permanent staff 24 grades · 8 countries · published net, per month · effective 1 Jan 2026 · source
Salary estimator What does a grade actually pay? Pick a grade and duty station in the estimator, or jump straight to a grade below.
Open the Council of Europe salary estimator

Where a vacancy is advertised at A1/A2 or L1/L2, a candidate with at least six years of relevant experience is appointed at the higher grade; at B1/B2 or C1/C2 the threshold is four years. No A6 or A7 figure is published for Türkiye, so those cells are empty rather than borrowed.

What comes with the salary

A published figure at Council of Europe is neither take-home nor total package. These are the terms that sit around it.

Added on top of salary Paid in addition to the published figure, where the conditions are met.
  • Expatriation allowance conditional Paid to staff recruited from outside the host country, assessed at recruitment and reviewed as personal circumstances change. Conditions and rates are set by each organisation.
  • Family and dependants' allowances conditional Household and dependent-child allowances, paid per month and per dependant irrespective of grade.
  • Education allowance conditional Towards the schooling of dependent children, up to ceilings the Co-ordinated Organisations review jointly on a three-year cycle.
Taken off the salary Deducted before anything reaches an account — the reason a published figure is not take-home.
  • Internal tax Levied by the organisation itself. In exchange, salaries and emoluments are exempt from national income tax in member states — so a published figure is not comparable with a private-sector gross salary.
  • Pension contribution A percentage of salary, deducted at source, under the pension scheme rules the Co-ordinated Organisations agree jointly and administer through the ISRP.
  • Social security contribution Towards the organisation's own scheme rather than the host country's.
  • Pension and social security contributions Already deducted from the published figures — the Council's tables are net monthly salaries for staff at the first step of the grade.
Pension & protection What accrues, and what covers a staff member and their family.
  • Pension scheme A defined-benefit scheme under jointly agreed rules. Several of the six now run more than one scheme in parallel, with newer staff on later terms.
  • Health and social cover Health insurance for staff and generally their family, through the organisation's own social security arrangements.
  • Post adjustment not provided There is none. Location is handled by publishing a different scale for each country, not by a multiplier on a single global base — the opposite of the UN common system.

Terms are the employer’s own and can change; the governing staff regulations prevail over anything summarised here. Amounts quoted are the figures in the published document at the time of writing and are reviewed periodically.

Everything above is drawn from published documents. Is this your organization? Add your own benefits and what you offer — it appears on this page under your name.

About Council of Europe

  • Strasbourg, France
  • Founded 1949
  • European and Co-ordinated Organizations

The Council of Europe has its headquarters in Strasbourg, France. It employs 2 200 people, and maintains external and liaison offices to other international organisations. The European Youth…

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Why Join Council of Europe

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