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Panorama.am presents an exclusive interview with the President of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) of the Council of Europe Gianni Buquicchio.

- Mr. Buquicchio, what are some recent main achievements of Venice Commission, main areas of the work with member states, challenges ahead?

- Generally one can say the Venice Commission has become an indispensible partner of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe who wish to carry out legal and constitutional reforms. When we give an opinion on a draft legal text, this opinion is taken seriously and mostly implemented to a considerable extent. If not everything is done immediately, our recommendations shape the agenda for the future. To give you an example from Armenia։ The Venice Commission had considerable influence on the on the 2005 constitutional reform. Those recommendations of the Commission which were not, or not fully, implemented in 2005 are now points of departure from the new reform currently envisaged.

More recently, the Venice commission has become an important actor of the neighborhood policy of the Council of Europe. We were closely involved in the drafting of the new constitution of Tunisia and were able to ensure that it is in line with international standards of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. To co-operate successfully with the countries of the Southern Mediterranean such as Tunisia, Morocco and Jordan will remain of our main challenges in the next year.

Currently our main priority is Ukraine in making the necessary reforms with respect to the constitution, the judiciary and electoral legislation.

Generally speaking the functioning of the judiciary in most countries of Central and Eastern Europe remains unsatisfactory and we are involved in judicial reforms in many countries.

 - What is the main role of Venice Commission in crafting European law?

- The main role of Venice Commission is not to develop rules of European law but to assist member states in improving their legislation based on European standards and experience. Our advice is based on what we call the European constitutional heritage and we help to integrate states into the European legal and constitutional space. The experience of the states we advise then becomes an element of the European constitutional heritage and in this manner we contribute to its further development.

We also work closely with constitutional courts, with the Constitutional court of Armenia being one of main partners, and in this manner we contribute to these courts taking an approach based on European standards and experience.

The Venice Commission does not have democratic legitimacy and we cannot adopt European legal standards. However, in some cases, texts prepared by the Venice Commission were endorsed by the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly and have become European standards. The best known case is the Code of good Practice in Electoral Matters, which has become the main reference text containing electoral standards in Europe.

- What are some highlights of cooperation with Armenia in the content of current constitutional reforms?

- First of all I would like to pay tribute to the very professional character of the work of constitutional reform commission. The commission took very coherent approach which is well through and based on the experience of other European countries. It also carried out public consultations. We had several meetings with the commission and these meetings resulted in improvements and refinements of the text.

In our opinion the concept paper provides an opportunity for reform which should not be missed.

The most important element of the concept is the move towards a more parliamentary system of government. This is a choice for each country but in our opinion it is a welcome choice which could strengthen Armenian democracy. The other main element of the concept is to enshrine the principles of the rule of law more consistently in the Constitution and strengthen constitutional guarantees for the implementation of fundamental rights. 

- What are some of the main trends of constitutional reforms in Europe?

- Developments are not uniform throughout Europe since national conditions vary widely. One common trend is that constitutions are becoming more open towards the integration of international and European law into the domestic law and towards co-operation with international and European institutions, accepting limits on national sovereignty.

In many countries of Eastern Europe there is a tendency towards a more parliamentary system of government, one of the main topics of the constitutional reform debated in your country. This trend is not exclusively found in Eastern Europe. The new Finnish constitution is also an example where the powers of the President were reduced. There is also a trend toward strengthening constitutional justice and paying more attention to guarantees for judicial independence in many constitutions.

- Thank you so much.

By Anna Mkrtchyan