All
decisions of the March plenary
At its 98th plenary session on
21-22 March 2014, the Commission :
- adopted opinions inter alia
on:
- “whether Draft Federal
Constitutional Law No. 462741-6 on amending the Federal Constitutional Law
of the Russian Federation on the
procedure of admission to the Russian Federation and creation of a new
subject within the Russian Federation is compatible with international law”
(endorsed);
- “whether the decision taken by the
Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine
to organise a referendum on becoming a constituent territory of the Russian
Federation or restoring Crimea’s 1992 Constitution is compatible with
constitutional principles”;
-
the draft law on the review of the Constitution of Romania;
- the draft Law on
making amendments and supplements to the judicial code of Armenia
;
-
the draft law
amending the law on freedom of religion in Kosovo[1];
- adopted
the reports on :
o the scope and lifting of
parliamentary immunities, previously discussed by the Sub-Commission on
Democratic Institutions;
o the protection of children’s rights: international standards and
domestic constitutions;
- held
an exchange of views inter
alia with :
- Mr Dimitry
Vyatkin, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional
Legislation and State Building of the Russian State Duma;
- Mr Pavlo Petrenko, Minister of Justice of Ukraine,
- Mr Mustapha Ben
Jaafar, President of the National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia ;
-
was informed on :
o co-operation with the State
Constitutional Commission of Georgia;
o follow-up to the opinion on two sets of draft amendments to the
constitutional provisions relating to the judiciary of Montenegro, to the opinion on the Draft Law on the Courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the amicus curiae brief in the cases of
Sejdić and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina;
o constitutional developments in Turkey;
o co-operation with Kazakhstan, Libya and Morocco;
o
co-operation with Albania on the reform of the
judiciary and ...
(read
the synopsis of the plenary)
[2] All reference to Kosovo, whether to
the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood
in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and
without prejudice to the status of Kosovo
|
Selected opinions
· Ukraine - referendum in Crimea and constitutional principles
By letter dated 7 March 2014 the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr T. Jagland, asked the Venice
Commission to provide an opinion on “whether the decision taken by the
Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine to organise
a referendum on becoming a constituent territory of the Russian Federation
or restoring Crimea’s 1992 Constitution is compatible with constitutional
principles”.
On 6 March 2014 the Supreme Rada (Council) of the Autonomous Republic of
Crimea adopted a Resolution “On the all-Crimean referendum”. According to
the Resolution, the voters are given two options: "1) Do you support
the reunification of the Crimea with Russia as a subject of the Russian
Federation? 2) Do you support the restoration of the Constitution of the
Republic of Crimea as of 1992 and the status of the Crimea as a part of
Ukraine?"
(read the summary )
· Russia -
draft on the admission of new Federation subjects
On 28 February 2014, a group of deputies of the State Duma of the
Russian Federation introduced Draft Federal Constitutional Law No. 462741-6
On Amending the Federal Constitutional Law on the Procedure of Admission to
the Russian Federation and Creation of a New Subject within the Russian
Federation. By a letter dated 7 March 2014, the Secretary General of the
Council of Europe requested by way of urgency the opinion of the Venice
Commission on the compatibility with international law of Draft Federal
Constitutional Law No. 462741-6.
Since
Draft Law No. 462741-6 focuses solely on the admission of new subjects,
this opinion limits its attention to this aspect. The purpose of this
opinion is to assess the text of the Draft Law and not to take a position
on a specific situation.
The
Draft Law further provides that in the situation foreseen in Draft Article
4 (2.1), the request for the admission of a new subject to the Russian
Federation shall be submitted by “state authorities of the part of the
foreign state” (Draft Article 6 (1.1)). The admission shall then be carried
out solely on the basis of the constitutional law of the Russian
Federation, with no need to conclude an international treaty with the
foreign state.
The
Explanatory Note attached to Draft Law No. 462741-6 explicitly refers to
the situation in Ukraine and to the obligation of the Russian Federation to
“take measures of support of the people of Ukraine that would push
Ukraine´s authorities towards establishing proper order without violence
and discrimination of national minorities”. Although it is therefore
evident that it is designed to address the current situation in Ukraine,
Draft Law No. 462741-6 is drafted in general terms.
(read
the summary)
|
