On 10 March 2016, Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, Member of the Bureau of the Venice Commission participated in the session of the Bureau of the Venice Commission, where the issues concerning the agenda and activities of the 106th Plenary Session were discussed.
Within the framework of the Venice Commission's 106th Plenary Session of March 11-12, 2016 more than 20 topics, some of which concerned the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland and amendments to the Law on the “Constitutional Court” of the Russian Federation were discussed. The issue on the approval of the report concerning the list of main criteria of the rule of law was highlighted.
The Plenary Session of the Venice Commission also referred to the issue of preparatory process of an appropriate conclusion on the draft of the new Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia. Mr. Evgeni Tanchev, member of the Commission informed that the Republic of Armenia requested the opinion of the Venice Commission on the draft of the new Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia. Given that the next session of the Commission will take place in early June 2016, on behalf of the rapporteurs on this issue the Republic of Armenia asked for the permission of the Commission to come up with the preliminary opinion till the plenary session in June 2016, which was highly appreciated by the Commission.
The issue on the “Constitutional Monitoring” was also included in the agenda of the 106th Plenary Session of the Commission. Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan, President of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia came up with the report on this issue.
Referring to the importance of constitutional monitoring system and presenting the results of the study concluded in his monograph “Constitutional Monitoring” which dealt with the issue of checklists of constitutional monitoring, in particular the worldwide and challenging issue of the rise of corruption, as well as pivotal significance of the constitutional monitoring in the guaranteeing the supremacy of the principle of the rule of law, Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan came up with an initiative to convene a Pan-European Conference dedicated to the constitutional monitoring.
Mr. Gagik Harutyunyan also mentioned that on this occasion he had already held meetings and discussions with Mr. Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Raymondi, President of the European Court of Human Rights, Mr. Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission, who also emphasized the importance of organizing such an event.
Referring to the proposal of Mr. Harutyunyan and highlighting the importance of this initiative, Mr. Grabenwarter, Member of the Venice Commission supported the idea of organization of Pan–European conference dedicated to the constitutional monitoring and signified the approaches to the mentioned issue in the framework of the Venice Commission.
Taking into account the list of the checklists on the rule of law, the Venice Commission made a proposal to Mr. Harutyunyan to prepare conceptual approaches on the organization of the event, to suggest the format, the venue and the date, and to present the latter at the June session of the Commission.
On 12 March 2016, the Plenary Session of the Venice Commission was followed by the Bureau Session of the World Conference of the Constitutional Justice. A number of issues relating to the further activity of the World Conference were also included in the agenda such as financing, clarification of working methods of the Organization, establishment of closer cooperation between the participants as well as possible ways and means to make the work of regional and linguistic groups more efficient within the period between the Congresses.
During the Bureau Session, the topic on the preparatory work of the World Conference on the constitutional justice to be held in Vilnius in September 2017 was also discussed. The regional and linguistic groups of constitutional justice participating in the World Conference informed on their activities.