10/10/2014 - 11/10/2014
Rome - The Commission
- Heard introductory addresses made on the occasion of the 100th Plenary Session by:
- Senator Benedetto Della Vedova, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy
- Mr Cosimo Ferri, Undersecretary of State for Justice, Italy
- Mr Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission
- Mr Mahmud Mammad-Guliyev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
- Mr Christopher Chope, on behalf of the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
- Ms Gabriella Battaini–Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe
- Mr Herwig van Staa, President of the Congress of Local and Regional authorities of the Council of Europe
- Mr Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Human Rights
- Mr Ranko Krivokapic, President Emeritus of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
- Ms Margarita Popova, Vice President of Bulgaria
- Mr Michael Georg Link, Director of the OSCE/ODIHR
as well as a message from Mr Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, read out by Mr Lucio Gussetti, Director, European Commission;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Nikola Todorov, Minister for Health of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, and adopted the opinion on the draft amendments (XXXIII - XXXIX) to the Constitution of "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" concerning, in particular, the Judicial Council, the competence of the Constitutional Court and special financial zones, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Democratic Institutions at its meeting on 9 October 2014;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Ruslan Knyazevych, Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and endorsed the opinion on the Draft law amending the Constitution of Ukraine, submitted by the President of Ukraine on 2 July 2014 and decided to make it public following the Ukrainian parliamentary elections to be held on 26 October 2014;
- Adopted the opinion on the Concept Paper on the Constitutional Reforms of the Republic of Armenia;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr David Usupashvili, Speaker of Parliament of Georgia, on the progress of work on Constitutional Reform in Georgia;
- Held an exchange of views with Ms Tea Tsulukiani, Minister for Justice of Georgia and with Mr Konstantine Kublashvili, Chairman, Supreme Court of Georgia and adopted:
- the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the Directorate of Human Rights of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Organic Law on General Courts of Georgia, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Judiciary at its meeting on 10 October 2014;
- the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the Directorate of Human Rights of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law on the Draft Law making changes to the Law on Disciplinary Liability and Disciplinary Proceedings of Judges of General Courts of Georgia, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Judiciary at its meeting on 10 October 2014;
- the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the Directorate of Human Rights of the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, on the draft Laws amending the Administrative, Civil and Criminal Procedure Codes of Georgia;
- Adopted the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft law on political parties of Malta and was informed of plans to reform the Constitution of the country;
- Held an exchange of views with Ms Branka Lakocevic, Deputy Minister for Justice of Montenegro and adopted the opinion on the Draft law on the Constitutional Court of Montenegro;
- Adopted the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft law amending the Law on the financing of political activities of Serbia;
- Adopted the opinion on draft amendments to the Law on the High Judicial Council of Serbia, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Judiciary at its meeting on 10 October 2014;
- Adopted the opinion on draft amendments to the Law on the State Prosecutorial Council of Serbia, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Judiciary at its meeting on 10 October 2014;
- Adopted the Report on the implementation of human rights treaties in domestic law and the role of courts, previously examined at the joint meeting of the Sub-Commissions on International Law, Fundamental Rights and Latin America on 10 October 2014;
- Was informed on follow-up to the opinion on the procedure for appointing judges of the Constitutional Court in times of presidential transition in the Slovak Republic; the joint opinion on the draft Law on Disciplinary Liability of Judges of the Republic of Moldova; the joint opinion on the Electoral Code of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”; the opinion on the electoral legislation of Mexico; the joint opinion on the Act on the Elections of Members of Parliament of Hungary; the joint opinion on the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament of Montenegro;
- Appointed Ms Herdis Thorgeirsdottir and Mr Richard Clayton as Venice Commission rapporteurs on the Gender issue;
- Was informed on recent constitutional developments in Algeria, Kazakhstan and Sweden;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the 3rd Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice held in Seoul on 28 September to 1 October 2014;
- Was informed on the Austrian Presidency of the Conference of European Constitutional Courts;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the 4th Intercultural workshop on Democracy “transparency and the rule of law as pre-conditions of equitable and sustainable development” held in Rome on 9 October 2014;
- Confirmed the dates of the next Plenary Session as follows: 12-13 December 2014, and fixed the dates for the 2015 sessions as follows: 20-21 March 2015; 19-20 June 2015; 23-24 October 2015; 18-19 December 2015.