Gianni Buquicchio (Italy) has been re-elected President of the Council of Europe's European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), over which he has presided since 2009.
A widely recognized public law expert, Mr. Buquicchio helped to ensure the Commission’s founding in 1990. His re-election took place at the Venice Commission’s 121st plenary session, on 6-7 December, during which three Vice-Presidents and other high-level representatives also were elected to two-year terms.
Three new Vice-Presidents were elected: Claire Bazy-Malaurie, member of the French Constitutional Council, Philip Dimitrov, member of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court and former Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1991-92) and Regina Kiener (Switzerland), Full Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the University of Zurich.
The Venice Commission furthermore elected Herdis Kjerulf Thorgerisdottir (Iceland), Veronika Bílková (Czech Republic), Michael Frendo (Malta) and Taliya Khabrieva (Russian Federation) as Bureau members.
Full election results will be made available on the Venice Commission website.
The Venice Commission provides legal advice to its member states and more generally helps states wishing to bring their legal and institutional structures into line with European standards.
Commission member states include the 47 Council of Europe member states, plus 15 other countries (Algeria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Mexico, Peru, Tunisia and the USA).
