Focus

Lustration in Albania, discrimination in Montenegro, electoral laws of Serbia and Ukraine -

Venice Commission meets in plenary

All the opinions are public after the adoption and are available on the website of the Venice Commission shortly after the session: adopted documents   At its 80th plenary session in Venice, 9-10 October 2009, the Commission has adopted the opinions on the following issues:   ·     Albania - at the request of the Constitutional Court of Albania, the constitutionality of the Albanian law of 22 December 2008 on lustration[1] which allows a newly created administrative body to terminate, for an indefinite period of time and through a specific procedure, the mandates of the President, the MPs, the ministers, the judges of the Constitutional and the High Courts. The Commission considers that this law is seriously flawed.

·         Montenegro – at the request of the then Minister for the Protection of Human and Minority Rights of Montenegro, the draft law on prohibition of discrimination. The intention of the Montenegrin authorities to adopt a single comprehensive anti-discrimination act is to be welcomed and encouraged. The act is likely to constitute a significant step in combating discrimination in the country.

·         Serbia - at the request of the Public Administration and Local Authorities Ministry of Serbia, three draft electoral laws: the State Election Commission of Serbia, the draft Law on the Unified Register of Voters of Serbia and the draft Law on the Election of Councillors of Serbia.

·         Ukraine – at the request of members of Verkhovna Rada, the amendments of certain legislative acts on elections of the President of Ukraine. The amendments concern the composition of electoral commissions, voters’ lists and new system of electoral disputes. 

Other questions on the agenda of the Commission included:

·         Armenia – draft law amending the Civil code concerning the rules on compensation of victims of defamation by the press;

·         Georgia – amendments to the law on occupied territories;

·         Latvia – draft amendments to the Law on the Constitutional Court;

·         Montenegro – amendments to the Law on the protector of human rights and freedoms.

The Commission was informed on progress of work on the opinion on the draft revision of the Constitution of Luxembourg.

The following general studies have been discussed:

·         Independence of judiciary – part I - Judges

·         Good governance

Ms Josefine Topalli, the Speaker of Albanian Parliament, Mr. Akaki Minashvili and Ms Chiora Taktakishvili, MPs of Georgia, as well as Mr Andryi Portnov and Mr Valeriy Pysarenko, Members of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, took part in the discussions.

For press contacts:

Ms Tatiana MYCHELOVA:

office tel. +333 88 41 3868;

e-mail: tatiana.mychelova@coe.int