20/03/2020 - 21/03/2020
Council of Europe, Strasbourg - Following the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Enlarged Bureau of the Venice Commission decided not to hold the scheduled 20-21 March 2020 plenary session in Venice.
Instead, today, three opinions were adopted by a written procedure, as follows:
• Armenia: the Joint Opinion with the OSCE/ODIHR on draft amendments to the legislation concerning political parties;
• Kyrgyzstan: the Joint Opinion with the OSCE/ODIHR on the amendments to some legislative acts related to sanctions for violation of electoral legislation;
• Republic of Moldova: the Joint Opinion with the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the draft law amending and supplementing the Constitution with respect to the Superior Council of Magistracy.
These three opinions are available on the Venice Commission's website.
In addition, the Commission adopted its Annual Report of activities for 2019.
Consideration of the following draft opinions was postponed to the June 2020 session of the Commission:
• Albania: a draft Opinion on draft amendments to a law on the Audiovisual Media Service and a draft Opinion on the appointment of judges of the Constitutional Court;
• Latvia: a draft opinion on recent amendments to legislation on education in minority languages;
• Russia: a draft Opinion on the draft Amendment to the Russian Constitution (as proposed by the President of the Russian Federation on 15 January 2020), relating to the implementation of decisions by international bodies;
• Turkey: A draft Opinion on the replacement of elected candidates and mayors.
In addition, the Commission will be invited to endorse the following opinions adopted earlier by the urgent procedure:
- Republic of Moldova: an urgent Joint Opinion with the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the draft Law on amending the Law No. 947/1996 on Superior Council of Magistracy;
- Poland: an urgent Joint Opinion with the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on amendments to the Law on Common Courts, the Law on the Supreme Court and some other Laws.