The Council of Europe's Commission for Democracy through Law (“Venice
Commission”) has assessed the draft constitutional amendments, as adopted by the
Armenian National Assembly in a first reading on 11 May 2005.

The members of the Venice Commission's Working Group on constitutional reform in
Armenia expressed their deep dissatisfaction with this text, as most of the
Commission’s comments (*) have not been taken into consideration, notably those
concerning the balance of powers between the President and the Parliament -
which implies a stronger role of the National Assembly -, the independence of
the judiciary and the election of the Mayor of Yerevan (instead of his/her
appointment by the President).

“The draft constitutional amendments need to be drastically revised before they
undergo the second reading” said Kaarlo Tuori, member of the Venice Commission
in respect of Finland. The members of the Working Group also stated that if the
text does not fully reflect the Venice Commission’s opinions, the whole
constitutional reform process would fail to bring Armenia closer to European
values and attain the aim of further European integration.

Representatives of the Working Group will visit Armenia on 2 June to discuss
these issues with the Armenian authorities.

(*) The Venice Commission’s interim opinion on constitutional reform in Armenia
adopted in December 2004 (CDL-AD (2004) 044), is available on the Commission’s
website: www.venice.coe.int



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