At its 102nd session in Venice 20-21 March 2015 the Commission:

-         Observed a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the deadly attack committed in Tunis on 18 March 2015 and expressed the firmest condemnation of all acts of violence and extremism as well as its sympathy for the families of the victims and for the Tunisian people;

-         Adopted the opinions on:

o    the Draft Law on the Prosecution Service of the Republic of Moldova; (joint opinion by the Venice Commission, the Directorate of Human Rights and the OSCE/ODIHR);

o    draft amendments to the Law on Media of Montenegro;

o    the Law on the Judiciary and the Status of Judges and amendments to the Law on the High Council of Justice of Ukraine (joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the Directorate of Human Rights);

-         Adopted the following reports:

o    the update of the 2007 Report on the Democratic Oversight of the Security Services and Report on the Democratic Oversight of Signals Intelligence Agencies (SIGINT);

o    the report on Proportional Electoral Systems: the allocation of seats inside the lists (Open/Closed Lists), previously adopted by the Council for Democratic Elections on 19 March 2015;

o    the annual report of activities for 2014;

-         Held an exchange of views with:

o    Mr Vladimir Grosu, Minister of Justice, Ms Liliana Palihovici, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and with Mr Corneliu Gurin, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Moldova, and

o    Ms Oksana Syroyid, Vice-Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and with Mr Oleksiy Filatov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine,

o  Mr Pavlo Petrenko, Minister of Justice of Ukraine, on progress in the preparation of amendments to the Lustration Law of Ukraine,

o    Ms Syroyid and Mr Filatov on the constitutional amendments with respect to the immunity of members of parliament and judges in Ukraine, on which the Venice Commission has been asked to prepare an opinion for the June Plenary Session;

o    Mr Filatov on progress of work on reform of the constitution and of the electoral legislation of Ukraine;

o    a representative of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on its project on « National Intelligence authorities and surveillance in the EU- Fundamental rights safeguards and Remedies »;

o    Mr Mohamed Moubdi, Minister responsible for the civil service and for the modernisation of the Administration of Morocco, on the UniDem Campus Programme for the regional training of senior civil servants in the countries of the Southern Mediterranean, which is part of a larger Human Rights training programme within the South Programme of the Council of Europe;

o    representatives of the Committee of Ministers, of the Parliamentary Assembly and of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe;

-         Endorsed the final opinions on:

o    the revised draft Law on the Public Prosecutor’s Office and

o    the revised draft Law on the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro, previously sent to the Montenegrin authorities;

-         Took note of the preliminary opinion on the draft Law on the Judiciary and the Status of Judges, previously sent to the Ukrainian authorities;

-         Authorized the rapporteurs to send to the Ukrainian authorities, if possible, the final opinion on the revised amendments to the Lustration Law prior to the Plenary Session of June 2015;

-         Endorsed the compilation of Venice Commission opinions and reports concerning courts and judges, submitted by the Scientific Council;

-         Was informed on:

o    progress on constitutional reform in Georgia;

o    co-operation with Albania and Tunisia;

o    constitutional developments in Kazakhstan and in Spain;

o    follow up to: 

§   the opinion on the seven amendments 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 zone;

§   the joint opinion on draft amendments to Legislation on the Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine;

§   the Joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate of Human Rights on the draft law on making changes to the Law on Disciplinary Liability and Disciplinary Proceedings of Judges of General Courts of Georgia;

§   the opinion on the Draft Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of Tajikistan; and

§   the report on the Role of Extra-institutional Actors in the Democratic System (Lobbying);

§   on progress on the preparation of the Rule of Law Checklist;

-         Was informed

o    by Ms Anne Brasseur, President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and by the President of the Venice Commission on the results and conclusions of the meeting of the Enlarged Bureau with the Presidential Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly, held on 21 March 2015;

o    of the election of Mr Jos Wienen, representative of the Congress of Local and Regional authorities of the Council of Europe, as new Chair of the Council for Democratic Elections and on the results and conclusions of the meetings of the Council for Democratic Elections on 13 December 2014 and on 19 March 2015;

o    on the results and conclusions of the meeting of the Sub-Commission on the Mediterranean Basin;

o    on the meeting of the Bureau of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (21 March 2015);

-         Confirmed the dates of the next Plenary Sessions as follows:

o    19-20 June 2015;

o    23-24 October 2015;

o    18-19 December 2015.