Recent and Current Events
19/10/2020
At its 124th Plenary Session in October 2020 and following the adoption of its 1000th opinion, the Venice Commission presented its jubilee volume “Thirty-year quest for democracy through law”. Some sixty authors – members and former members of the Commission, as well as experts – present in depth various aspects of the work of the Commission, covering the Commission’s wide field of expertise.
The table of contents of the book and information on orders can be consulted via the link below.
22/10/2020
The Venice Commission is invited to participate in a meeting of the Working group on democracy and technology (GT-DT) of the European Committee on Democracy and Governance (CDDG).
The working group’s mandate is to do the preparatory work for the CDDG study on digital transformation and its impact on democracy and governance. The group also prepares the recommendations and guidelines on new technologies and the different stages of the electoral process.
A representative of the Venice Commission will present its work in this area, in particular the “Draft principles for a... read more
20/10/2020
The Venice Commission organised in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of Georgia a webinar on “Holding elections during a pandemic”.
A member and experts of the Venice Commission intervened on the following topics:
- “Elections under states of emergency – Reflections issued from the Report on respect for Democracy, Human Rights and Rule of Law during states of emergency”.
- national examples of elections held recently under the health crisis.
20/10/2020
Tunis - The Venice Commission organised on 20 October 2020 an online workshop dedicated to the strategic communication of the independent bodies of Tunisia and their relations with the media. This workshop is a continuation of a first event held in Tunis in October 2019 which focused on the various challenges encountered by the authorities in their strategic communication.
The meeting aimed to deepen this theme by addressing the modalities of implementing an effective communication strategy, in line with the mandates and budgets of the bodies. The link between the communication st... read more
15/10/2020
The Venice Commission organised in cooperation with the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova a webinar on “Holding elections during a pandemic”.
A member and experts of the Venice Commission intervened on the following topics:
- “Elections under states of emergency – Reflections issued from the Report on respect for Democracy, Human Rights and Rule of Law during states of emergency”.
- national examples of elections held recently under the health crisis.
13/10/2020 - 15/10/2020
The Venice Commission has organised the 11th UniDem Med Regional Seminar entitled "TOWARDS A USER-ORIENTED ADMINISTRATION " in co-operation with the Ministry of the Economy, Finances and Public Administration Reform of the Kingdom of Morocco. This seminar is taking place as a videoconference from 13 to 15 October 2020.
It is bringing together around 60 senior international experts and public officials from six Southern Mediterranean partner countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon -Morocco, Palestine* and Tunisia) with the aim to exchange best practices as regards the principles... read more
12/10/2020
Strasbourg, Council of Europe – Today the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe issued the following statement:
“The term of office of the current Polish Human Rights Commissioner expired on 9 September 2020. While the successor has not yet been elected, on 17 September 2020 some MPs requested the Constitutional Court to declare unconstitutional the provision of the Human Rights Commissioner Law stating that the outgoing Commissioner performs his duties until the incumbent assumes the position.
The Ombudsman is an important element in a State based on democracy, t... read more
08/10/2020 - 09/10/2020
Due to the worsening sanitary conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony devoted to the 30th anniversary of the Venice Commission has been postponed to a later date. The 124th Plenary Session therefore took place exclusively on-line.
The Commission adopted the draft opinions on current constitutional reforms in Iceland and Malta, on functioning of the judiciary in Georgia and Ukraine, on bar associations in Turkey, on freedom of assembly in Kosovo and freedom of religion in Uzbekistan.
In addition, the Commission adopted the draft Reports on criminal liabi... read more
69th meeting of the Council for Democratic Elections
07/10/2020
The 69th meeting of the CED was held online.