The Council of Europe has been organising high-level meetings of Ministries of the Interior in connection with its technical assistance and co-operation activities since 1998. Their aim is to foster debate on policing, security and the protection of citizens' rights at pan-European level, and to evaluate the Council's involvement in these areas. One of the main emphases is effective police action to curb international crime, with the help, among other things, of transfrontier co-operation. An international police ethics is important in this context.

The first meeting (Strasbourg, 1998) discussed “Pan-European police co-operation in the fight against organised crime and corruption respecting the principles of states governed by the rule of law”.

The second meeting (Bucharest, 2000) focused on "The police in the 21st century: strengthening of the protection of citizens' rights and new international threats against security".

The third meeting (Warsaw, 2005) addressed the topic “The fight against terrorism and organised crime to improve security in Europe”. It enabled to to review the current state of legal instruments on the fight against terrorism at international and European level as well as their functioning, and to envisage their future development on the basis of the work carried out by the Council of Europe.