Mr Thomas Markert, studied at the University of Tübingen, the College of Europe in Bruges and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts, USA. He obtained a Doctorate of Law of Tübingen University in 1989. He joined the Council of Europe in 1989 and has worked for the Venice Commission as from 1992. He was appointed Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Venice Commission in 2002. Thomas Markert took part in the drafting of the Constitutional Framework for Kosovo, the Constitution of Albania, the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro, proposals to amend the Dayton Constitution in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the special law on the referendum on independence in Montenegro. In Eastern Europe he was involved in the preparation of Venice Commission opinions on the Ukrainian Constitution and attempts to revise it, on the constitutional referendum in Belarus, constitutional reforms in Moldova, Georgia and the Constitution of the Chechen Republic. He was appointed Director, Secretary of the Venice Commission on 1 March 2010.