The European Commission for democracy through law (Venice Commission) adopted or endorsed a series of opinions concerning, among other subjects, legislation on political parties, judicial reforms, governance, media regulation and constitutional matters across several Council of Europe member countries.
What is in the new opinions from the Venice Commission?
The commission – which is the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters – endorsed an urgent opinion on the compatibility with international standards of the upcoming referendum question concerning European Union accession negotiations in Iceland.
Joint opinions were adopted with the Council of Europe's Directorate general of human rights and rule of law (DGI) on Albania's draft law on the financing of political parties and on two reform packages in the Republic of Moldova concerning the appointment of judicial and prosecutorial evaluation commissions, integrity checks and the evaluation of judges. Prior to the adoption of these opinions, members held exchanges of views with experts of the Albanian ad-hoc parliamentary committee on electoral reform and with Moldovan parliamentary and justice ministry officials.
In relation to Serbia, the Venice Commission endorsed its urgent opinion on amendments to laws governing the judiciary and prosecution service, adopted a follow-up opinion to the latter, and adopted a further follow-up opinion on the additional amendments to the draft law on the Judicial Academy. The commission held exchanges of views with the President of the National Assembly of Serbia and the Serbian Minister of Justice.
The commission also adopted a follow-up opinion on Montenegro's draft law on the government following an exchange with a senior official from the Ministry of Public Administration.
Concerning Poland, the commission adopted a joint opinion on a presidential draft Law on reinstating the right to a fair trial and hearing of cases without undue delay. Discussions were held with representatives of the Sejm, the Ministry of Justice and the office of the President.
Lastly the commission endorsed an urgent follow-up opinion concerning draft and adopted amendments to the Law on the Lithuanian national radio and television after exchanges with representatives of the Seimas and the public broadcaster.
The opinions came as part of the Venice Commission’s 147th plenary session in Venice, which took place on 12-13 June 2026 in its regular closed-door meeting. The adopted or endorsed opinions will be published on the Venice Commission website during the course of this week.
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