09/06/2023 - 10/06/2023
Venice, Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista - The Venice Commission:
• Adopted the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the draft Law of Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on the Special Registry and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organisations;
• Decided to make a public statement in support of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Held an exchange of views with Mr Thomas Godmez, Secretariat General of the Government of France, and adopted the interim opinion on Article 49.3 of the Constitution of France, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Democratic Institutions at its meeting on 8 June 2023;
• Held an exchange of views with Ms Isabelle Jegouzo, Private Office of the Minister of Justice of France, and adopted the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the Superior Council of Magistracy and the status of the judiciary as regards nominations, mutations, promotions and disciplinary procedures of France;
• Adopted the final opinion on the draft law of Georgia on de-oligarchisation, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Democratic Institutions at its meeting on 8 June 2023;
• Held an exchange of views with Mr Till Steffen, Member of Parliament of Germany, and adopted the joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the amendments to the German Federal Election Act and their compliance with Council of Europe standards, previously approved by the Council for Democratic Elections at its meeting on 8 June 2023;
• Held an exchange of views with Ms Veronica Mihailov Moraru, Minister of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, and adopted:
- the final opinion on the draft law of the Republic of Moldova on limiting excessive influence in the economic and public life (de-oligarchisation), previously examined by the Sub-Commission on the Democratic Institutions at its meeting on 8 June 2023, and
- the joint follow-up opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe to the opinion on the draft Law;
• Held an exchange of views with Mr Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice of Ukraine, and adopted:
- the opinion on the law of Ukraine on prevention of threats to national security, associated with excessive influence of persons having significant economic or political weight in public life (oligarchs), previously examined by the Sub-Commission on Democratic Institutions at its meeting on 8 June 2023;
- the follow-up opinion to the opinion on the draft law on amending some legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding improving the procedure for selecting candidate judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on a competitive basis;
• Held an exchange of views with Mr Viktor Yelenskyi, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience, and adopted the opinion on the draft law of Ukraine on national minorities, previously examined by the Sub-Commission on National Minorities at its meeting on 8 June 2023;
• Was informed on follow-up to the following opinions:
- Final Opinion on the Constitutional Reform of Belarus;
- Amicus curiae brief on the clarity of provisions on combating extremist activities of the Republic of Moldova;
- Urgent joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the Directorate General of Human Rights and the Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe on the draft law on amendments to certain legislative acts concerning the procedure for electing (appointing) members of the High Council of Justice (HCJ) and the activities of disciplinary inspectors of the HCJ (Draft law no. 5068) of Ukraine;
- Joint amicus curiae Brief on certain questions related to the election and discipline of the members of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine;
• Held an exchange of views with Ms Dunja Mijatović, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe;
• Was informed of the three-year contract with the Regione del Veneto on the structural funding of the Venice Commission;
• Held an exchange of views with Mr Reyes Rodriguez Mondragon, President of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary of Mexico;
• Was informed that Belarus has withdrawn from its status of associate member of the Venice Commission as of 22 March 2023;
• Was informed on the results and conclusions of the meeting of the Council for Democratic Elections on 9 March 2023;
• Designated Mr Srdjan Darmanović, member in respect of Montenegro, as candidate for the position of Vice-President of the Council for Democratic Elections in the elections to be held in October 2023;
• Was informed on the Venice Commission’s participation in electoral observation missions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as a legal advisor;
• Was informed on the results and conclusions of the Fourth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe (Reykjavík, Iceland, 16-17 May 2023);
• Was informed about the case law of the European Court of Human Rights relating to the Venice Commission’s Code of Good Practice in Electoral matters;
• Expressed its thankfulness to Mr Grigory Dikov and Mr Serguei Kouznetsov, who have been transferred to other services in the Council of Europe, for their professional and loyal services and their commitment to the Venice Commission;
• Held an exchange of views with representatives of the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe;
• Was informed of the results and conclusions of several conferences:
- 20th meeting of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission and mini-conference on the topic “Measures taken by States in response to the COVID-19 crisis and their impact on constitutional justice – constitutional case-law on emergency situations”, Sofia, 24-25 April 2023;
- Conference on the European Constitutional Heritage, Strasbourg, 4-5 May 2023;
- PACE Conference on Elections in Times of Crisis – Challenges and Opportunities, Berne, 9-10 May 2023;
- International Conference on Cybersecurity and Elections, Madrid, 10-12 May 2023;
- International conference on the Development of Trend Models of the Institute of Constitutional Complaint in Central Asian Countries, Samarkand, 25-26 May 2023;
- Launching event - South Programme V : Conference on "Protecting human rights, rule of law and democracy through shared standards in the Southern Mediterranean" (South Programme V)”, Lisbon, 13-14 March 2023;
• Was informed of the upcoming conferences:
- Conference on “Democracy in Europe: How can parliamentarians help safeguard and strengthen democracy and the rule of law?”, Stockholm, 18–19 June 2023;
- Stockholm Symposium on “Democracy and the Rule of Law”, Stockholm, 21–22 June 2023;
- Congress on “Digital technologies : Democracy and regulation in Europe and America” Mexico, 19-21 June 2023;
- International conference on “the Constitution as a Foundation for Building a Democratic State under the rule of law”, Issyk Kul, 21-22 June 2023;
- Conference on “Constitutional Justice: dignity, freedom and justice for all", Astana, 7-8 September 2023;
- Conference on “Constitutions and War”, Madrid, 14-15 September 2023;
- Conference on Stability of Electoral Law: a Principle of the European Electoral Heritage”, Barcelona, November 2023;
- Conference on “Money and democracy - an uneasy relationship”, Cologne, December 2023;
• Was informed that the dates of the next Plenary Sessions will be as follows:
- 6-7 October 2023; 15-16 December 2023.