18.03.2021 - 20.03.2021
Due to continued COVID-19 restrictions, the first plenary session of the Venice Commission in 2021 took place virtually.
Unprecedented number of opinions -14 - were adopted including opinions 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 electronic communications and the law on broadcasting was also on the agenda. Joint OSCE/ODIHR opinions on draft amendments to Georgia’s election code, the organic law on the political associations of citizens and rules of procedure of Parliament of Georgia, and on Ukraine’s draft law on political parties were equally adopted.