09/12/2016 - 10/12/2016
The Commission:
- Paid tribute to the late Mr Boualem Bessaïh, member of the Venice Commission in respect of Algeria;
- Elected Ms Jasna Omejec as Co-Chair of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice and Chair of the Sub-Commission on Constitutional Justice, following the non-renewal of the term of office of Mr Tanchev;
- Noted on the proposal of the Bureau that the substitute member of the Kyrgyz Republic is no longer able or qualified to exercise his function as substitute member of the Venice Commission;
- Adopted the amicus curiae brief for the Constitutional Court of Albania on the Law for the temporary re-evaluation of Judges and Prosecutors (Vetting Law);
- Held an exchange of views with Ms Arpine Hovhannisyan, Minister of Justice of Armenia, and adopted the joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft constitutional law of the Republic of Armenia on political parties;
- Held an exchange of views with Ms Arpine Hovhannisyan, Minister of Justice of Armenia, and with Mr Arman Tatoyan, Human Rights Defender of Armenia, and adopted the opinion on the draft constitutional law of the Republic of Armenia on the Human Rights Defender;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Igor Vremea, member of the Legal Committee, Nominations and Immunities, Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, and adopted the opinion on the draft law on the ethno-cultural Status Law of the District of Taraclia (Republic of Moldova):
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Igor Vremea, Member of the Legal Committee, Nominations and Immunities, Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, and adopted the joint opinion by the Venice Commission, the Directorate of Information Society and Action against Crime and the Directorate of Human Rights (DGI) on Draft Law No. 161 of the Republic of Moldova amending and completing existing legislation in the field of combating cybercrime, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Fundamental Rights on 8 December 2016;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Selahaddin Menteş, Deputy Undersecretary, Ministry of Justice of Turkey and adopted the opinion on Emergency Decrees of Turkey, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Fundamental Rights on 8 December 2016;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Oleksiy Filatov, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, and adopted the opinion on the draft law on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Constitutional Justice on 8 December 2016;
- Was informed on follow-up to: The Second Joint Opinion on the Electoral Code of Armenia (as amended on 30 June 2016); the Opinion on the suspension of the second paragraph of Article 83 of the Constitution of Turkey (parliamentary inviolability); the Opinion on the Act on the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland; the Joint opinion on the draft law "on Introduction of amendments and changes to the Constitution" of the Kyrgyz Republic; the amicus curiae Brief for the Constitutional Court of Albania on the restitution of property;
- Was informed of the decision by the Bureau to postpone examination of the draft opinion on amendments to the Organic law on the Constitutional Tribunal of Spain to a forthcoming session;
- Endorsed the compilation of Venice Commission opinions and reports on bioethics;
- Held an exchange of views with Mr Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, President of the National Electoral Institute of Mexico;
- Held on exchange of view with Mr Mustafa Ramid, Minister of Justice and Liberties of Morocco, on recent constitutional developments in Morocco and was informed on co-operation with Morocco, in particular through the UniDem-Med Campus;
- Was informed on constitutional developments in Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States, as well as in Argentina;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the Conference on “Constitutional Reform and Democratic Stability: the role of Constitutional Courts” as well as of the meeting of the Sub-Commission on Latin America which took place in Lima on 24-25 October 2016;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the International Conference organised by the Venice Commission in co-operation with IACL and International IDEA, on “Global Constitutional Discourse and Transnational Constitutional Activity” which took place in Venice on 7 December 2016;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the Congress on comparative law organised on 1-2 December 2016 in Moscow by the Institute of legislation and comparative law of the Russian Federation;
- Heard an address by Mr Roberto Caldas, President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;
- Was informed on the results and conclusions of the meeting of the Council for Democratic Elections held on 8 December 2016;
- Held an exchange of views with representatives of the Committee of Ministers, of the Parliamentary Assembly and of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe;
- Heard addresses by Mr Dan Hazaparu, President of Romanian Foundation for Democracy through Law and Mr Constantin Sima, President of the Association of Prosecutors of Romania;
- Was informed on the activities of the Association of former Venice Commission members and substitute members
- Confirmed the dates of the next Plenary Sessions as follows: 10-11 March 2017; 16-17 June 2017; 6-7 October 2017 and 8-9 December 2017.