Recent and Current Events
18/04/2024 - 19/04/2024
Gdansk, Poland – The Venice Commission in cooperation with the University of Gdansk will hold a conference entitled “Elements and dynamics of the European legal standard”.
The participants will address the topic of the conference through the following panels:
• An attempt to define the legal standard;
• In search of the legal standard on the separation of powers;
• The legal standard on the judiciary and the prosecutor's office;
• The legal standard on the constitutional judiciary;
• The significance of the legal standard for the democratic state of law i... read more
European Parliament - Spain – Amnesty law
18/04/2024
Ms Marta Cartabia, Vice-President of the Venice Commission, will take part in an exchange of views on the Spanish amnesty law with the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament.
This exchange of views is a follow-up to the Opinion on the rule of law requirements of amnesties, with particular reference to the parliamentary bill of Spain “on the organic law on amnesty for the institutional, political and social normalisation of Catalonia”, adopted by the Venice Commission in March 2024.
15/04/2024 - 15/04/2024
Strasbourg - the President of the Venice Commission, Ms Claire Bazy Malaurie, met with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Mr Mihail Popșoi, to discuss recent developments in the country.
10/04/2024
By letters of 1 April 2024 and 10 April 2024, the Minister of Justice of Montenegro, Mr Andrej Milović, requested urgent opinions of the Venice Commission on the following:
• the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges;
• the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the State Prosecution Service;
• the draft Law on the Prevention of Corruption;
• the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Special State Prosecution Service
• the draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Seizure and Confiscation of Material Benefit Derived from Criminal Activ... read more
25/03/2024 - 26/03/2024
Yerevan – A delegation of the Venice Commission travelled to Armenia and had an exchange of views with state authorities and other stakeholders in order to follow up on the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on the draft amendments to the Electoral Code and related legislation of Armenia, which the Commission adopted in October 2023. The delegation met with representatives of the following institutions:
• the Ministry of Justice, including the Deputy Minister of Justice,
• the Central Election Commission (CEC),
• the Standing Committee on State and ... read more
16/03/2024
Venice - The 21st Bureau meeting of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) convened on 16 March 2024, in Venice, alongside the 138th plenary session of the Venice Commission.
The WCCJ Bureau consists of ten regional and linguistic groups of constitutional courts and courts of equivalent jurisdiction, four courts representing the continents of Africa, the Americas, Asia/Oceania and Europe, as well as the host courts of the previous and the next WCCJ Congresses (Article 4(b)(1) of the WCCJ Statute).
The members of the WCCJ Bureau held an exchange of views ... read more
16/03/2024
At its 138th Plenary Session, following an exchange of views with Mr Pedro Rollán Ojeda, President of the Senate of Spain, and with Ms Isaura Leal Fernández, Second Secretary of the Bureau of the Congress of Deputies, the Venice Commission adopted the Opinion on the rule of law requirements of amnesties, with particular reference to the parliamentary bill of Spain “on the organic law on amnesty for the institutional, political and social normalisation of Catalonia”.
16/03/2024
"Pursuant to Article 1(1) of the Revised Statute of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice,’ “The World Conference on Constitutional Justice ... promotes constitutional justice, as a key element of democracy, the protection of human rights and the rule of law”. Pursuant to Article 4(b)(7) of the Revised Statute, the Bureau of the Conference may, inter alia, adopt resolutions in accordance with the World Conference’s objectives listed in Article 1. The communiqué adopted at the 5th Congress of the World Conference on Constitutional Justice acknowledged the role of constitutional courts... read more
15/03/2024 - 16/03/2024
Venice, Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista - On 15 and 16 March 2024 the Venice Commission held its plenary session in Venice.
It had on its agenda in particular six draft opinions concerning: Bosnia and Herzegovina on certain questions relating to the functioning of the Constitutional Court; Bulgaria on the Code of Ethical Conduct for Judges and on the Code of Ethical Conduct for Prosecutors and Investigators; Hungary on the Act LXXXVIII of 2023 on the Protection of National Sovereignty; Lebanon on the draft law on the administrative judiciary; Spain on the rule of law r... read more