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Recent and current events
26/01/2012
Strasbourg - At a meeting yesterday in Strasbourg, the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), noting concerns about Hungary’s new legislation, asked the Venice Commission to give opinions on five more laws, i.e. laws on :
• Freedom of Information,
• the Constitutional Court,
•Prosecution,
• Nationalities and
• Family Protection.
The Venice Commission has just started to assess three other Hungary’s laws, i.e. laws on the independence of the judiciary, freedom of religion and parliamentary elections, following earlier request of the Hungarian authorities.
The request comes as part of an ongoing investigation – launched by the PACE's Monitoring Committee in the spring of 2011 – into whether or not to open a “monitoring procedure” in respect of Hungary, following recent constitutional and legal changes in the country.
Kerstin Lundgren (Sweden, ALDE) and Jana Fischerová (Czech Republic, EDG), who are leading the investigation for the Assembly’s Monitoring Committee, announced that they will return to Budapest on 16 and 17 February 2012 to gather further information on recent developments. They made a first fact-finding visit in July 2011.
Ten of the Council of Europe’s 47 member states are currently subject to the Assembly’s monitoring, which involves dialogue with the authorities of a member state to help it fulfil its obligations as a member of the Organisation.
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24/01/2012
Brussels – Following his recent visit to Tunisia, the President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio is invited to participate in the debate entitled “The Arab revolution: one year later”, organised by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the EP.
EU Commissioner Stefan Füle, EU Special Representative Bernadino Leon, Secretary General EEAS Pierre Vimont, US Special Representative Ambassador William Taylor will also participate in the debate.
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23/01/2012 - 24/01/2012
Cairo - The Venice Commission organises jointly with the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt an international Conference on Constitutional Drafting.
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20/01/2012
Hungarian authorities have asked for the Venice Commission’s opinion on the laws concerning the independence of the judiciary, religious freedom and elections to Parliament.
This request comes as a follow-up to the letter of 11 January 2012 by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland to the Minister of Foreign Affairs János Martonyi inviting Hungarian authorities to request the Venice Commission to provide opinions on these controversial laws. In the same letter the Secretary General also invited Hungary to request the expertise of the Council of Europe on the media law.
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19/01/2012
Strasbourg - the President of the Commission Gianni Buquicchio and its Deputy Secretary Simona Granata-Menghini will hold an exchange of views with the Monitoring Group on the Southern Mediterranean of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the EP on the post electoral situation in Tunisia
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17/01/2012 - 18/01/2012
Tunis – At the request of the European Union (Electoral Reform International Services), a Judge specialised on electoral disputes participates on behalf of the Venice Commission in a Round Table on the electoral disputes of the results of the 23 October elections of the National Constituent Assembly. The topics are: analysis, perspectives and recommendations.
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17/01/2012 - 18/01/2012
Tunis - The Venice Commission will participate in the ABA ROLI-Arab Council for Judicial and Legal Studies (ACJLS) Workshop on “The Role of an Independent Judiciary in the Middle East and North Africa.”
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16/01/2012 - 17/01/2012
Tunis – On 16 and 17 January 2012, the President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio and the Deputy Secretary of the Commission Simona Granata–Menghini participate in the visit of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to Tunisia. This visit follows up to the observation by PACE of the elections of the Constituent Assembly, which were held on 23 October 2011. The Venice Commission had participated in the observation mission in its capacity as legal counsel for PACE.
The Venice Commission, of which Tunisia is a full member, wishes to establish relations with the new Constituent National Assembly and to strengthen its relations with other Tunisian institutions and partners.
Meetings are scheduled with
• the President of the Republic, Moncef Mourzouki,
• the Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali,
• the Speaker of the Constituent National Assembly, Mustapha Ben Jaafar,
• the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rafik Ben Abdessalem, and
• the President of the Independent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE), Mohamed Kamel Jendoubi,
• representatives of the political groups in the Constituent National Assembly and
• representatives of the international community and NGOs.
Press contact:
Tatiana Mychelova, Venice Commission, office +33 3 88 413868 ; e-mail: tatiana.mychelova@coe.int
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13/01/2012
Paris - Meeting of the working group on the study "Extra-institutional actors in the democratic system"
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20/12/2011 - 21/12/2011
Kyiv - Participation of the Venice Commission in a roundtable on judicial independence organised by the OSCE/ODIHR, the National Commission on Strengthening Democracy and the rule of law and the USAID FAIR project.
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19/12/2011
Council of Europe, Strasbourg - The President of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Dick Marty submitted to the Venice Commission a decision of the Committee, taken at its meeting on 15 December 2011 in Paris, to ask the Venice Commission for an opinion on five Russian Federal laws:
1. The Federal Lawon the FSB
2. The Federal Law on meetings, rallies, marches and pickets
3. The Federal Law on counteraction toextremist activities
4. The Federal Law on political parties
5. The Federal Law on election of the deputies of the State Duma.
The Commission plans to adopt opinions on these laws at its next plenary session in March 2012.
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16/12/2011 - 17/12/2011
The Venice Commission will issue opinions on the legislation of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Serbia and Ukraine.
Themes to be addressed include:
• Albania - the electoral law and the electoral practice in Albania requested by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe,
• Armenia - alternative service; legal regime of state of emergency;
• Azerbaijan – political parties;
• Bosnia and Herzegovina - internal affairs of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and internal affairs of the Sarajevo Canton;
• Georgia - the Election Code and legislation on political unions of citizens;
• Serbia – the Constitutional Court;
• Ukraine - principles of the State language policy.
The Venice Commission will issue its opinions on these and other topics at the conclusion of its 89th plenary session in Venice on 16-17 December in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.
All opinions will be published on the Venice Commission website in the course of the week following the session: www.venice.coe.int
The Chair of the Committee of Ministers Deputies UK Ambassador Eleanor Fuller attends the session.
Press contacts:
Tatiana Mychelova, External relations officer
Office: +33 (0)3 88 41 3868, mobile +33 6 76 72 04 02
For accreditation please email: tatiana.mychelova@coe.int
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Adopted documents
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