Recent and Current Events
11/01/2021
By letter dated 12 December 2020 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova requested an amicus curiae brief of the Venice Commission on three questions concerning constitutional review of the law-making procedures in Parliament.
The draft amicus curiae is planned to be submitted for adoption to the 126th Plenary Session in March 2021.
08/01/2021
On 8 December 2020 the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the PACE requested the Venice Commission’s opinion on the compatibility with European standards of certain criminal law provisions used to prosecute peaceful demonstrators and Members of the Belarusian “Coordination Council”.
The draft opinion will be prepared for adoption by March 2021 plenary session.
European Parliament – Rule of Law situation in Bulgaria
08/01/2021
A representative of the Venice Commission took part in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) exchange of views on the Rule of Law situation in Bulgaria.
The event was organised by the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group (DRFMG) of the LIBE Committee.
08/01/2021
On 24 December 2020 the Chairman of the Parliament of Georgia requested two opinions of the Venice Commission on the following legislative texts:
- the draft amendments to the Election Code, the Organic Law on the Political Association of Citizens and the Rules of Procedure of Parliament;
- draft Article 791 of the Electoral Code (revocation of party registration).
The draft opinions will be submitted for adoption by the March 2021 plenary session.
08/01/2021
By letter dated 18 December 2020, the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe requested the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion concerning the Russian Federation on the compatibility with international human rights standards of a series of Bills introduced by the Russian State Duma between 10 and 23 November 2020, to amend Laws affecting so-called “foreign agents”.
The draft opinion is planned to be submitted for adoption to the 126th Plenary Session in March 2021.
07/01/2021
On 16 December 2020 United Nations General Assembly adopted the Resolution A/RES/75/186 on “The role of Ombudsman and mediator institutions in the promotion and protection of human rights, good governance and the rule of law”.
The resolution provides strong endorsement of the Principles developed by the Venice Commission on the Protection and Promotion of the Ombudsman Institution – “the Venice Principles”. It establishes these principles as the new global standard for the ombudsmen institutions.
The Venice Principles are the 25 principles that protect and promote the Om... read more
07/01/2021
The Venice Commission is saddened by the death after a long illness of its former substitute member in respect of France Mr Alain LANCELOT.
He was a widely recognised expert in constitutional law at home and abroad and an extremely appreciated proponent of the Venice Commission, he sat on the Commission in the capacity of substitute member in respect of France from 2002 to 2006.
The Director of the Sciences-Po (1987-1996) Mr Alain LANCELOT was a member of the French Constitutional Council (1996-2001), a member of the Board of Directors (2002-2005) and the Chairman of th... read more
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - Meeting of the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee
17/12/2020
The President of the Venice Commission Mr Gianni Buquicchio will address the EP Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee at its meeting online on 17 December 2020 on "Rule of Law, judiciary and fundamental rights in Turkey" .
He will exchange views with the EU Delegation on recent opinions issued by the Commission on Turkey.
15/12/2020 - 17/12/2020
The Venice Commission is organizing the 12th UniDem Med Regional Seminar entitled "" REFORM OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: NEW CHALLENGES AND NEW METHODS OF OPERATION", in co-operation with the Presidency of the Government of Tunisia. This seminar takes place in the form of a videoconference from 15th to 17th of December 2020.
More than one hundred international experts and senior public officials from the Southern Mediterranean will take part in this event (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine * and Tunisia). The participants will exchange good practices aimed to modernise the ad... read more
15/12/2020
The Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested an opinion of the Venice Commission on the draft law on amendments to the Law on High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council.
The draft opinion will be submitted for adoption to the March 2021 plenary session of the Commission.
11/12/2020 - 12/12/2020
Strasbourg, Council of Europe - Due to the current pandemic, the 125th Plenary session of the Venice Commission was held online (11 December 2020 - 9:30 a.m.-17 p.m. and 12 December 2020 - 10-12 a.m. CET).
On 11 December 2020 the Commission adopted opinions on the draft “Law on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo” and on July and October 2020 amendments to the “Electoral law of Albania”. Both opinions were prepared under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism in the framework of the EU/CoE joint programme “Horizontal Facility II”, co-funded by the Council of Europe and the Eur... read more