81st Plenary Session of the Commission (Venice)
11/12/2009 - 12/12/2009
At its 81st plenary session, the Commission adopted opinions on the following issues:
• Armenia – revised draft law amending the Civil code concerning the rules on compensation of victims of defamation by the press;
• Azerbaijan – draft Laws on the Status of municipalities and on obtaining information on activities of the courts of Azerbaijan;
• Bulgaria - draft Law on Normative Acts;
• Georgia – revised draft amendments to the law on occupied territories;
• Kazakhstan - interpretation of the Kazakh Constitution concerning the participation in the Customs Union within the Euro-Asian Economic Community;
• Luxembourg - the draft revision of the Constitution of Luxembourg;
• Moldova - draft law on the status of Euroregions;
• Ukraine - draft law on organising and conducting peaceful events.
The Commission exchanged views with the President of the State Constitutional Commission of Georgia Mr Avtandil Demetrashvili on the constitutional reform in this country.
The Commission adopted the report on constitutional provisions for amending the Constitution,
In the field of the electoral law the Commission will adopt the following documents:
- Guidelines on the internationally recognised status of election observers,
- Report on the cancellation of election results.
The Commission elected Gianni Buquicchio as its President, Jan Helgesen as 1st Vice President and President of the Scientific Council to be created. The other elected members of the enlarged Bureau are as follows:
Vice-presidents: Ms Finola Flanagan (Ireland)
Mr Peter Paczolay (Hungary)
Bureau: Ms Kalliopi Koufa (Greece)
Mr Valeriy Zorkin (Russia)
Mr Konghyun Lee (Korea)
Mr Aivars Endzins (Latvia)
Chairs of the Sub commissions:
Fundamental rights -- Mr Kaarlo Tuori (Finland)
Federalism and regionalism -- Mr Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem (Germany)
International law -- Mr Vojin Dimitrijevic (Serbia)
Minorities -- Mr Jan Velaers (Belgium)
Judiciary -- Ms Hanna Suchocka (Poland)
Democratic institutions -- Mr Jeffrey Jowell (UK)
External relations -- Mr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici (Malta)
Working methods -- Mr Pieter van Dijk (the Netherlands)
Constitutional justice -- Mr Christoph Grabenwarter (Austria)
Council for Democratic Elections -- Mr Jean-Claude Colliard (France)