REVISED DRAFT CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ARE AN UNDENIABLE IMPROVEMENT,
VENICE COMMISSION ESTABLISHES

YEREVAN, JULY 22, NOYAN TAPAN. “The revised draft constitutional
amendments are an undeniable improvement over the previous drafts
commented by the Venice Commission,” the draft final conclusion of the
Venice Commission on the draft constitutional amendments in Armenia
reads. In the Commission’s opinion, “its passing in the second reading
and then holding a successful constitutional referendum based on this
text will provide a good basis for ensuring human rights respect,
compliance of the Armenian Comstitution with European standards in the
fields of democracy and rule of the law, and will pave the way for
further European integration.” Presenting the draft to reporters at
the July 22 press conference, the Head of the Armenian delegation in
the PACE, Chairman of the NA Ad Hoc Commission on European Integration
Issues, NA Vice Speaker Tigran Torosian noted that prior to becoming a
final document, the draft must be approved by the Commission at the
sitting to be held in October, however, as a rule, the drafts prepared
by experts are passed by the Commission without any amendments.

According to the draft, the Venice Commission, appreciating the
Armenian authorities’ “efforts and good will”, underlined the
necessity of holding open and broad discussions on the final version
and keeping the public informed with the aim of ensuring success at
the referendum to be held in November. In this connection the
Commission attached importance to extensive and fair coverage of the
reforms by the media. The draft conclusion contains 36 points and in
particular addresses the specific principal points of the revised
version of the draft constitutional amendments. The Commission
assessed positively the mechanism of electing the RA Ombudsman by
three fifths of the National Assembly members, and the revised
approach to the formation of government in the issue of the
authorities’ counterbalance and control. At the same time, in the
opinion of the Commission, the government structure must be defined by
law. The Commission also proposed to revise, in case of a successful
referendum, all the laws of the judicial system by bringing them in
line with European standards. The amendmends regarding the local
self-government system were also deemed to be positive, particularly
those establishing Yerevan as a community and making the post of
Yerevan Mayor elective. 5 points referred to the freedom, independence
and pluralism of the media. If by the previous version, the
candidatures of the National Television and Radio Commission members
were nominated by the RA President, by the current revised version,
half of the Commission shall be appointed by the RA President and
another half – by the National Assembly. The appointed persons must be
nonpartisan – welcoming this amendment, the Venice Commission reminded
that appointment must be professional merit-based. At the same time,
the order of appointing all the members of the Public Television and
Radio Company by the RA President was considered as a problem causing
one. In the Commission’s opinion, in case of keeping this order,
transparent mechanisms of appointment must be ensured in order to
avoid possible political speculations.