Annual Report of Activities 2019

ANNUAL REPORT OF ACTIVITIES 2019 European Commission Council of Europe, 2020 Venice Commission for Democracy through Law European Commission for Democracy through Law Venice Commission of the Council of Europe Annual report of activities 2019 Council of Europe, 2020 French edition: Rapport annuel d’activités 2019 – Commission européenne pour la démocratie par le droit – Commission de Venise All requests concerning the reproduction or translation of all or part of this document should be addressed to the Directorate of Communication (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]). All other correspondence concerning this document should be addressed to the Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law – Venice Commission. Cover and layout: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe. This publication has not been copy-edited by the SPDP Editorial Unit to correct typographical and grammatical errors. © Council of Europe, June 2020 Printed at the Council of Europe Table of contents I. WORKING FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW – AN OVERVIEW OF VENICE COMMISSION ACTIVITIES IN 2019 5 Key figures 5 Voluntary contributions 5 Main activities 2019 5 II. CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS, STATE INSTITUTIONS, HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE JUDICIARY 13 Country specific activities 13 Transnational activities 29 III. CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE 35 Opinions, reports and conferences / Meetings 35 Joint Council on Constitutional Justice (JCCJ) 37 e-Bulletin on Constitutional Case-Law and the CODICES database 38 Venice Forum 38 Regional co-operation 39 World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ) 40 IV. ELECTIONS, REFERENDUMS AND POLITICAL PARTIES 43 Country specific activities 43 Transnational activities 47 VOTA, the commission’s electoral database 48 Other conferences and meetings 48 V. CO-OPERATION IN THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE NEIGHBOURHOOD AND BEYOND 51 Mediterranean Basin 51 Central Asia 54 Latin America 56 Other conferences and meetings 58 VI. CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE COMMISSION AND ORGANS AND BODIES OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE, THE EUROPEAN UNION AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS 61 Council of Europe 61 European Union 67 OSCE 72 United Nations 74 Co-operation with other international organisations 74 APPENDIX I – THE VENICE COMMISSION: AN INTRODUCTION 77 APPENDIX II – MEMBER COUNTRIES 83 APPENDIX III – INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS 85 APPENDIX IV – OFFICES AND SUB-COMMISSIONS 2019 93 APPENDIX V – PUBLICATIONS 95 APPENDIX VI – DOCUMENTS ADOPTED IN 2019 99 ► Page 3 EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration Mr Johannes Hahn, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Ms Marija Pejčinović Burić and President of the Venice Commission Mr Gianni Buquicchio at the Plenary Session of the Venice Commission, Venice, October 2019 I. WORKING FOR DEMOCRACY THROUGH LAW - AN OVERVIEW OF VENICE COMMISSION ACTIVITIES IN 2019 Key figures During 2019, the Commission continued to carry out activities thanks to contributions previously received In 2019 the Venice Commission adopted 5 opinions from Armenia, Italy, Malta and Ukraine. on constitutional reforms and 16 on legislative texts An important contribution for future activities was or specific legal issues as well as 9 texts of transna- received from Belgium. tional interest. It adopted 5 amicus curiae Briefs, two for the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, two for the The Commission also implemented a number of Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova and activities in Ukraine thanks to contributions from one for the European Court of Human Rights in the the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine. Case of Mugemangango v. Belgium. It (co)organised 17 Certain activities, in particular in Central Asia, Latin seminars and conferences and provided legal support America, Tunisia, the Western Balkans and the coun- to 5 election observation missions of the Parliamentary tries of the Eastern Partnership and Horizontal Facility, Assembly of the Council of Europe. were financed by the European Union in the frame- The Commission published 3 e-Bulletins on work of Joint Projects and Programmes (cf. Chapter VI). Constitutional Case Law and provided comparative law elements to constitutional courts and equivalent bod- Main activities 2019 ies in 27 cases. The Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe and the Supreme Court of India joined the World Conference on Constitutional Justice (WCCJ), bring- Democratic institutions and ing the total number of members to 116 in December fundamental rights 2019.1 The number of precis in the CODICES database on constitutional case-law exceeded 10,000 cases. Constitutional reforms, democratic institutions and issues of international Canada, an observer State since 1991, became the law 62nd full member of the Venice Commission in 2019. In 2019, the Venice Commission provided opinions on constitutional reforms in several countries; it also ana- Voluntary contributions lysed legislative changes which affected the organisation of the constitutional institutions of the State and In 2019 the Commission received voluntary and “in the system of checks and balances. kind” contributions from the Italian government (Regione Veneto and Ministry of Foreign Affairs) for The constitutional reform in Luxembourg received the organisation of the plenary sessions, as well as a generally positive assessment by the Venice voluntary contributions from: Commission. The main thrust of the reform – to cir- cumscribe the powers of the Grand-Duc in accordance Sweden for a number of specific activities; ► with the new political realities – is worth praise. Other ► Germany for a number of specific activities in positive amendments concern the extension of the the electoral field; powers of the Constitutional Court, and the constitutional entrenchment of the Ombudsperson. The Norway for co-operation with the countries of ► opinion, however, suggested clarifying certain provi- the Southern Mediterranean; sions (on the hierarchy of legal norms, on the place ► Unearmarked contributions from Montenegro of international law in the domestic legal order, etc.), and Spain. and regulating certain matters at the constitutional level (for example, concerning the composition of the 1. Somalia became the 117th member on 3 January 2020. Supreme Judicial Council). ► Page 5 In 2019 the Venice Commission adopted several important studies and reports on constitutional matters and issues of international law. Thus, it examined whether the inclusion of an annexed (and thus not interna- tionally recognised) territory in a State’s nationwide constituency affects the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections. The request for this report was made by PACE against the background of the verification of the Russian delegation’s credentials. The Commission noted that there existed a tension between the clear illegality under international law of any annexation President of the Commission Mr Gianni Buquicchio and Prime Minister of the Republic and the interests of the persons living in the annexed of Moldova Mr Ion Chicu, Council of Europe, Chisinau, December 2019 territory. While international organisations have the obligation not to recognise an annexation even implic- In 2019 the Commission examined the constitutional itly, they may nonetheless decide not to reject the crisis in the Republic of Moldova, with particular credentials of the delegation of the annexing State focus on the possibility and conditions for dissolving if the impact on the election results as concerns the Parliament. The Commission criticised the position nationwide constituency has been minimal. taken by the Constitutional Court of Moldova during the constitutional crisis, its failure to respect its The Venice Commission adopted the Principles on own procedures, and its interpretation of the rules the protection and promotion of the Ombudsman on the dissolution of Parliament. On 15 June 2019, institution (“the Venice Principles”). These Principles the Constitutional Court reversed some of its own identify minimal standards as to the role, functions, controversial decisions, the crisis has been resolved, guarantees for independence and institutional struc- and sometime later, the judges of the Constitutional ture of those institutions. This text was endorsed by all Court resigned in block. three statutory bodies of the Council of Europe in 2019. The opinion on Peru concerned the power of the In 2019, the Venice Commission completed its work President to link a question of confidence to consti- on the Parameters on the relationship between tutional amendments. The Commission noted that the parliamentary majority and the opposition in this linkage may create a risk of being used to alter a democracy. Due to the lack of hard international a proper balance between constitutional powers. A standards in this area and the great diversity of systems constitution is normally designed to be difficult to of parliamentarism, this document was formulated as amend, in order to ensure its relative stability, foresee- a “checklist”: a list of questions with a commentary ability, and continuity, and amendment procedures based on the Venice Commission’s previous opinions, tend to be lengthy. This is in contrast to motions of recommendations of other international bodies, best confidence, which have to be voted upon quickly. practices from some selected jurisdictions etc. The However, the text of the Constitution does not exclude Checklist was based on the philosophy of respect such linkage. The Commission called on the President for political pluralism and of checks and

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