Venice Commission :: Council of Europe

Due to continued COVID-19 restrictions, the first plenary session 2021 of the Venice Commission took place virtually.

Several opinions were adopted including on the Citizens’ security law in Spain, on constitutional amendments and the procedure for their adoption in Russia, on the compatibility with European standards of criminal law provisions in Belarus used to prosecute peaceful demonstrators.

A joint opinion of the Venice Commission and Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe (DGI) on recent amendments in Georgia to the law on elect... read more

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Adopted opinions

125th Plenary session of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe

11/12/2020 - 12/12/2020

Strasbourg, Council of Europe - Due to the current pandemic, the 125th Plenary session of the Venice Commission was held online (11 December 2020 - 9:30 a.m.-17 p.m. and 12 December 2020 - 10-12 a.m. CET).

On 11 December 2020 the Commission adopted opinions on the draft “Law on the Government of the Republic of Kosovo” and on July and October 2020 amendments to the “Electoral law of Albania”. Both opinions were prepared under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism in the framework of the EU/CoE joint programme “Horizontal Facility II”, co-funded by the Council of Europe and the Eur... read more

Session report

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124th Plenary session of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and 30th anniversary ceremony

08/10/2020 - 09/10/2020

Due to the worsening sanitary conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony devoted to the 30th anniversary of the Venice Commission has been postponed to a later date. The 124th Plenary Session therefore took place exclusively on-line.

The Commission adopted the draft opinions on current constitutional reforms in Iceland and Malta, on functioning of the judiciary in Georgia and Ukraine, on bar associations in Turkey, on freedom of assembly in Kosovo and freedom of religion in Uzbekistan.

In addition, the Commission adopted the draft Reports on criminal liabi... read more

Session report

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Adopted opinions

123rd Plenary session of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe

18/06/2020 - 19/06/2020

The Venice Commission adopted a number of opinions through a written procedure on 18-19 June, in replacement of the actual meeting of 123rd plenary session in Venice that did not take place due to the continued COVID-19 concerns.

The following opinions were adopted by a written procedure:
18 June:
• Albania – Opinion on the Law no 97/2013 on Audio-visual Media Service;
• Latvia – Opinion on the recent amendments to the legislation on education in minority languages;
• Russian Federation – Opinion on the draft Amendments to the Constitution Federation relatin... read more

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Annotated agenda

Adopted opinions

122nd Plenary session of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe - Opinions adopted by written procedure

20/03/2020 - 21/03/2020

Council of Europe, Strasbourg - Following the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Enlarged Bureau of the Venice Commission decided not to hold the scheduled 20-21 March 2020 plenary session in Venice.
Instead, today, three opinions were adopted by a written procedure, as follows:

• Armenia: the Joint Opinion with the OSCE/ODIHR on draft amendments to the legislation concerning political parties;
• Kyrgyzstan: the Joint Opinion with the OSCE/ODIHR on the amendments to some legislative acts related to sanctions for violation of electoral legislation;
• Republic of M... read more

Synopsis

Adopted opinions