Back President of the Venice Commission participates in a meeting of PACE’s Standing Committee: “The Rule of Law is much more than a slogan - it has precise and practical implications”

Monaco 27 May 2026
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President of the Venice Commission participates in a meeting of PACE’s Standing Committee: “The Rule of Law is much more than a slogan - it has precise and practical implications”

On 22 May 2026, Ms Marta Cartabia, President of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, participated online in a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the Venice Commission’s Updated Rule of Law Checklist.

In her intervention, Ms Cartabia highlighted the strong cooperation between PACE and the Venice Commission for over three decades, highlighting that PACE is the Council of Europe’s most active body in requesting legal opinions from the Venice Commission, thereby often triggering cooperation with member states, and referred to the important contribution PACE had made to the process of updating the Checklist.

Speaking of the use made of the Checklist in practice, including in judgments of the European Court of  Human Rights, the Rule of Law monitoring by the EU and the reports and resolutions of PACE, Ms Cartabia emphasised “The Rule of Law is much more than a slogan. It has precise and practical implications”.  Ms Cartabia further outlined the key changes of the Updated Rule of Law Checklist, in particular those related to contemporary challenges which – since 2016 – have transformed the Rule of Law landscape, such as the impact of new technologies, the growing influence of private actors and Rule of Law backsliding. She also called attention to the two additional benchmarks included in the Updated Rule of Law Checklist: checks and balances and constitutional review, critical safeguards against Rule of Law backsliding.

President Cartabia concluded by stressing the need for civic education and a supportive legal culture to fully realise the Rule of Law’s potential, alongside formal standards, calling attention to the "Rule of Law: A User Guide" campaign, which aims to support this effort, bringing the principles of the Rule of Law to life beyond legal circles.

The Assembly endorsed the Updated Rule of Law Checklist on 22 May 2026. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe endorsed the Updated Rule of Law Checklist at its 135th session in Chișinău on 15 May 2026.

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