IT’S SENSELESS TO TRY TO AVOID PROPOSALS BY VENICE COMMISSION
Support A1+!The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) is “deeply concerned” by the fact that the delay in the adoption of the constitutional amendments is “holding back Armenia's progress towards European democratic norms and standards in key areas of political life”. According to the Assembly, the revision of the Constitution is a pre-condition for the fulfillment of some of the most important commitments that Armenia undertook upon its accession to the Council of Europe. These include the separation and balance of powers, the reform of the judicial system and local self-government reform.
At the end of an urgent debate, PACE followed the proposals by the rapporteurs Georges Colombier (France, EPP/CD) and Jerzy Jaskiernia (Poland, SOC) and called on the Armenian authorities and the parliamentary majority to fully implement the recommendations of the Venice Commission, to undertake clear and meaningful steps in order to resume an immediate dialogue with the opposition and to adopt the text at second reading “no later than August 2005”, in view of the referendum that should be held “no later
The Assembly called on the opposition “to stop its parliamentary boycott and do everything possible to promote the recommendations of the Council of Europe with regard to the constitutional reform”. The parliamentarians decided to observe the constitutional referendum and, in the meantime, declared their readiness to provide any assistance that might be needed for its preparation.
