Back Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) provides opinion to public authorities in Kosovo*

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 Venice Commission provided an important opinion to the public authorities in Kosovo*, upon the request of the Minister of Justice of Kosovo,Ms. Albulena Haxhiu, on whether the revised draft amendments to the law on the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council implemented key recommendations defined in the previous opinion adopted in December 2021 by the Venice Commission.

According to the published opinion, the last recommendations shared with the authorities in Kosovo do not affect the general conclusion that the key issues identified by the Commission in the opinion of December 2021 have been addressed.

Read the full opinion HERE .

 

 

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

Venice 13 December 2022
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What is the Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism?

The Expertise Co-ordination Mechanism (ECM) provides expertise within the Council of Europe system to respond to requests for legislative expertise and policy advice on strengthening justice, fighting economic crime and combating discrimination, as well as freedom of expression and the media, and constitutional issues falling within the mandate of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (known as the Venice Commission). This is done in full respect of the independence and functioning specificities of the Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and provides a key support to accession processes to the EU. If there are Horizontal Facility actions in the field of interest in respective Beneficiary, the request for an expert opinion can be accommodated directly by those actions.

 

Who can make a request for an expert opinion under the ECM?

Ministers (and other members of the government), the speaker of parliament, heads of parliamentary committees, Ombudsperson institutions or independent state institutions of the Beneficiary concerned (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye) can make a request for an expert opinion under the ECM.

Furthermore, specifically for issues which fall within the area of competence of the Venice Commission, the European Union as well as Council of Europe organs (i.e. the Secretary General, Committee of Ministers, Parliamentary Assembly and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities) can also submit requests for ECM assistance.

In addition, requests for amicus curiae briefs by the Venice Commission can also be made by constitutional courts.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.