Abstract: | On the eve of the adoption of the new Council of Europe ‐ UNESCO Convention, this article goes back to the first agreement between the two international organizations to step up their co‐operation in the field of academic recognition and retraces the different stages that led to the final completion of the legal text. It offers an overview of the entire process, analyzing the development of the basic concepts of the Convention, highlighting controversial issues, and demonstrating the complex process of consultation in a wider and diversified Europe that will be brought to completion at the Lisbon Diplomatic Conference. This article, in a slightly different form, will be presented as a background document at the Lisbon Conference. |