On Wednesday 21 December, the Venice Commission - the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters - published three opinions on Serbia.
The first, requested by Maja Popović, Serbian Minister of Justice, concerns two draft laws implementing constitutional amendments on public prosecution.
The second, also requested by the Minister, is a follow-up opinion on three bills involving constitutional amendments on the judiciary.
The Council of Europe’s legal experts believe that these amendments “have the potential to bring about significant positive changes”, but point out that “truly successful” reform also requires that non-legislative measures be taken following the adoption of these legislative amendments.
A joint opinion by the Venice Commission and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) responds to a request by the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
It addresses electoral law and administration and recommends, among other things, strengthening the professional background and expertise of the members of the electoral administration, efficient monitoring of the media “in a landscape dominated by the majority”, improving campaign finance control, lowering the ceilings for donations, measures to promote internal political party democracy, etc.
The first opinion was prepared in the framework of the expertise coordination mechanism of the European Union/Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility II” joint programme.
Link to the Opinions on the Constitutional Amendments (Public Prosecution and Judiciary): https://aeur.eu/f/4r9
Link to the Joint Venice Commission/ODIHR Opinion on Electoral Law and Administration: https://aeur.eu/f/4ra (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)