VENICE COMMISSION DISCONTENT WITH RA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS DRAFT
Pan Armenian News
30.05.2005 02:59
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Council of Europe’s Commission for Democracy
through Law (Venice Commission) has assessed the draft constitutional
amendments, as adopted by the Armenian National Assembly in a first
reading on 11 May 2005, PanARMENIAN.Net came to know from the CE
Yerevan OfficeThe members of the Venice Commission’s Working Group on
constitutional reform in Armenia expressed their deep dissatisfaction
with this text, as most of the Commission’s comments have not been
taken into consideration, notably those concerning the balance of
powers between the President and the Parliament – which implies
a stronger role of the National Assembly -, the independence of
the judiciary and the election of the Mayor of Yerevan (instead of
his/her appointment by the President). “The draft constitutional
amendments need to be drastically revised before they undergo the
second reading”, said Kaarlo Tuori, member of the Venice Commission in
respect of Finland. The members of the Working Group also stated that
if the text does not fully reflect the Venice Commission’s opinions,
the whole constitutional reform process would fail to bring Armenia
closer to European values and attain the aim of further European
integration. Representatives of the Working Group will visit Armenia
on 2 June to discuss these issues with the Armenian authorities.