The Council of Europe’s body of constitutional law experts, the Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through Law) has published several opinions concerning ten states that were adopted and endorsed at its latest plenary session.
Armenia: the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the Draft amendments to the Electoral Code and related legislation of Armenia (*)
Bulgaria: the Opinion on the draft amendments to the Constitution of Bulgaria;
Chile: the Opinion on the 2023 Process of Constitutional Reform in Chile;
Georgia: the follow-up Opinion to previous opinions on the amendments to the Organic Law on Common Courts of Georgia;
Kyrgyzstan:
- the Opinion on the draft law on the media of Kyrgyzstan;
- the Opinion on the draft Constitutional Law on the Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan;
The Republic of Moldova:
- the follow-up Opinion to the opinion on the draft law of the Republic of Moldova on the Intelligence and Security Service, as well as on the draft law on counterintelligence and external intelligence activity (*) ;
- the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the draft law on the anti-corruption judicial system and on amending some normative acts of the Republic of Moldova (*) ;
- the joint follow-up Opinion to the joint opinion on the draft Law on the external assessment of Judges and Prosecutors of the Republic of Moldova
- the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on amendments to the Electoral Code of the Republic of Moldova and other related laws concerning ineligibility of persons connected to political parties declared unconstitutional (*) ;
Montenegro: the Opinion on the draft law on the Government of Montenegro (**) ;
The Netherlands: the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the legal safeguards of the independence of the judiciary from the executive power.
Poland: the urgent Opinion on the Law of Poland on the State Commission to investigate Russian Influence on Internal Security in the Republic of Poland between 2007 and 2022 and on the draft law amending that Law (previously issued on 26 July 2023 and endorsed by the Venice Commission’s plenary session);
Ukraine:
- the joint Opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the draft law amending certain legislative acts of Ukraine which restrict the participation in the state power of persons associated with political parties whose activities are prohibited by law;
- the Opinion on the draft law on Amendments to Article 51 of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada on political liability of Members of Parliament associated with political parties whose activities have been suspended;
- the joint follow-up Opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe to the joint Opinion on the draft amendments to the Law “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” and Certain Laws on the Activities of the Supreme Court and Judicial Authorities;
- the urgent follow-up opinion to the Opinions on the Law on “Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on improving the procedure for the selection of candidates for the position of judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on a Competitive Basis” (previously issued on 25 September 2023 and endorsed by the Venice Commission’s plenary session).
- the follow-up Opinion to the opinion on the law of Ukraine on national minorities;
The synopsis of the Plenary Session is available here.
The next Plenary Session will take place on 15-16 December 2023 in Venice.
(*) The opinions were prepared under the Quick Response Mechanism (QRM) in the framework of the EU/CoE joint programme Partnership for Good Governance, co-funded by the Council of Europe and the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.
(**) The Opinion was prepared under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism in the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Türkiye”.
