A meeting of the representatives of political forces and civil society with the experts Christoph Grabenwarter (Austria), Aivars Endzins, (Latvia) and Simona Granata-Menghini, Deputy Secretary of the Venice Commission (Italy) of European Commission for Democracy through Law - Venice Commission who visited Armenia to assist the process of constitutional reforms in Armenia was held on August 25, 2015. Sona Ayvazyan, Deputy Director and Heriknaz Tigranyan, Legal Adviser of Transparency International Anticorruption Center (TIAC) took part in that discussion on Constitutional reforms in Armenia. In her speech Sona Ayvazyan presented TIAC’s remarks on the draft constitutional amendments, summing up the challenges and threats, which are of concern for civil society.

The Venice Commission will publish its final opinion on the draft constitutional amendments on October 26-28.The Experts of Venice Commission believed that they gathered impressions during the meeting and received new information to be considered in the new document.

As we know, on 1 November 2013, the President of the Constitutional Court of Armenia, Gagik Harutyunyan, in his quality of coordinator of the Professional Commission for Constitutional Reforms on behalf of the President of the Republic of Armenia, requested the assistance of the Venice Commission in the process of revision of the Constitution of Armenia. A working group of Rapporteurs was set up, composed of Bartole, Endzins, Grabenwarter, Khabrieva, Tanchev, and Tuori.