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 European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe. The Commission also adopted “Principles for fundamental rights - compliant use of digital technologies in electoral processes”.
The following previously issued Urgent Opinions were endorsed on 11 December 2020:
• Urgent Interim Opinion the draft new Constitution of Bulgaria (interim urgent opinion),
• amicus curiae Urgent Brief on the postponement of elections motivated by constitutional reform of the Kyrgyz Republic,
• amicus curiae Urgent Brief on specific legal questions concerning the mandate of members of constitutional bodies of the Republic of Moldova, and
• two Urgent Opinions on the legislative situation regarding anti-corruption mechanisms and the reform of the Constitutional Court following judgment no.13-r/2020 of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine of 27 October 2020.
The report on “Individual access to constitutional justice” and the “Revised Joint Guidelines on Political Party Regulation” (2nd Edition), jointly prepared with OSCE/ODIHR, were on the agenda of the session of 12 December 2020 and were successfully adopted as well.
The President of Albania, Mr Ilir Meta, and the President of Ukraine, Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy, participated in the 125th Plenary Session.