News on expert co-ordination mechanism
Venice Commission publishes several opinions supported through the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism
The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) enables the provision of legislative expertise and policy advice in the areas covered by the Horizontal Facility programme, as well as on constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the European Commission for Democracy through Law, known as the...
Venice Commission adopts the Opinion on “Certain questions relating to the functioning of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina”
The President of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested an opinion of the Venice Commission on eight questions relating to the functioning of the Constitutional Court, namely on the measures that could be taken in a situation in which the authorities deliberately block the...
Venice Commission publishes the Opinion on the draft Law on the Government of Montenegro
The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) enables the provision of legislative expertise and policy advice in the areas covered by the Horizontal Facility programme, as well as on constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the European Commission for Democracy through Law, known as the...
Venice Commission publishes three opinions under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism
Upon requests from the authorities of the Horizontal Facility Beneficiaries, the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) enables the provision of legislative expertise and policy advice in the areas covered by the programme, as well as on constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the...
Venice Commission publishes opinion on Serbia: three draft laws implementing the constitutional amendments on the judiciary
The Minister of Justice of Serbia, Maja Popović, requested an opinion of the Venice Commission on five draft Laws aimed at implementing the recent constitutional amendments concerning the organisation of the judiciary and the prosecution service. Following this request, the Venice Commission...
Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) provides opinion to public authorities in Kosovo*
The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) was designed to provide expertise and policy advice in the context of the programme, continued to function as an important instrument for the Beneficiaries in the region, in response to related requests from public authorities. In this framework, the...
Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism provides advice to authorities in the Western Balkans
The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) continued to be activated to respond to important requests from Horizontal Facility II Beneficiaries for legislative and policy expertise in key areas of the programme, such as ensuring justice, fighting economic crime and combating discrimination, as...
Serbia: revised constitutional amendments on the judiciary meet most of the key recommendations, their full and prompt implementation is now crucial, says Venice Commission
The Council of Europe’s body of constitutional law experts, the Venice Commission, in its new urgent opinion on the revised draft constitutional amendments in Serbia said that most of its previous key recommendations have been met, but insisted on the need to reduce the risks of politicisation of...
Serbia: Venice Commission welcomes constitutional amendments, recommends improvements, calls for the continued involvement of opposition
The initiative of the Serbian authorities to bring the 2006 Constitution in line with European and international standards, albeit only on the part of the judiciary, is to be welcomed, but the parliamentary opposition should continue to be involved in the constitutional reform process. Besides,...
New draft law on referendum in Serbia: positive initiative, but comes in a rush, needs improvement, says Venice Commission
The efforts by the Serbian authorities to bring the legislation in line with international standards are to be welcomed, but it is regretful that the revision of the law on referendums started only when a constitutional referendum was imminent, said the Venice Commission in its urgent opinion on...
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Venice Commission recommendations on draft amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council
In an opinion adopted on Friday 19 March (Bosnia and Herzegovina - Opinion on the draft Law on amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, Adopted by the Venice Commission at its 126th Plenary Session (online, 19-20 March 2021), the European Commission for Democracy...
Kosovo*: Venice Commission recommends greater transparency on draft law on Government
The Venice Commission, under the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM), as a part of the European Union and Council of Europe joint Horizontal Facility II programme, provided an expert opinion on the draft Law on Government. The Venice Commission recommends that the draft law should be made...
Venice Commission provides important opinion on amendments in the Constitution and Electoral Code in Albania, under Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism
The European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and the OSCE Office for Democratic institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) issued a joint opinion about the adoption of the amendments to Albania’s Constitution of 30 July 2020 and to the country’s Electoral Code of 5 October...
Venice Commission adopts important opinions on Albania and Kosovo*
Venice Commission adopted important opinions on Albania and Kosovo in the framework of the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM). For Albania the opinions were focused on the amendments to the Law No. 97/2013 “On Audiovisual Media Service” and the appointment procedure of the Constitutional...
Albania: Venice Commission to adopt legal opinions on Audiovisual Media law & the appointments in the Constitutional Court
In the context of the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) two important requests for legal opinion were submitted to the Venice Commission. The first request deriving from the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concerned the amendments to the...
Venice Commission calls on North Macedonia to re-examine new language law and to abandon the provisions on bilingualism in judicial proceedings
In its opinion adopted today, the Venice Commission has called on the authorities of North Macedonia to re-examine the Law on the Use of Languages through consultations with all parties concerned. The Council of Europe’s legal experts underline that in comparison with the 2008 legislation, the...
Expert visit to Montenegro to support electoral reform
An expert of the Venice Commission visited Podgorica with a view to providing expert advice on the draft code of ethics for political parties during election campaigns. The expert exchanged views with the chairman and some members of the Committee on Further Reform of Electoral and Other...
Positive opinion on the draft law on the judicial council of North Macedonia
In its first plenary session of 2019, the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) adopted an opinion on the draft Law on the Judicial Council of North Macedonia. The opinion was requested by Mr Zoran Zaev, the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, through the Expertise...
Albania - workshop on electoral administration
An expert of the Venice Commission took part in a workshop on electoral administration of the Parliamentary Ad hoc Committee on Electoral Reform which was organised with the support of the Organization of Security for Europe (OSCE) and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights...
Support to the Ad hoc Committee on Electoral Reform
A two-day workshop for members of the parliamentary Ad hoc Committee on Electoral Reform to discuss international practices and effective mechanisms to prevent and combat vote buying and abuse of state resources took place on 12-13 June 2018 in Tirana. The event was attended by members of the...