Venice Commission , auch: the European Commission for Democracy through Law

V. Kolesnichenko, one of the authors of the law, claimed the 2012 analysis of the Venice Commission was "generally supportive".

The Venice Commission that reviewed the case confirmed the questionable nature of the referendum that should be reviewed by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

The Venice Commission's primary task is to assist and advise individual countries in constitutional matters in order to improve functioning of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights.

I expect Turkey to amend its constitution as soon as possible in compliance with the criteria drawn up by the Venice Commission, to preclude the banning of political parties.

In the run-up to the 2005 parliamentarian elections we are concerned that one of the joint recommendations, made by the OECE and Council of Europe Venice Commission, for improvements to the election legislation and administration have not really been completely implemented.

In this context, the current rules governing the closure of political parties in Turkey are not in line with the European Convention of Human Rights and with European practices, as was recently stated in an opinion of the Venice Commission.

We will work towards practical recommendations in this area, in cooperation with our partners in the Committee of Ministers, the secretariat and the Council of Europe's advisory body on constitutional matters the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission).

So I particularly regret the fact that the Commission has not mentioned, and will not endorse, my Amendment 35, since I believe it to be very necessary that we should start to cooperate better with the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission, which brings structure to constitutional case law.