The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić and European Union Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi launched on 27 February 2023 the third phases of the Partnership for Good Governance (PGG) and Horizontal Facility (HF). The PGG will continue providing tailor-made support to Eastern Partnership countries to bring their legislation and practice closer to European standards in the fields of human rights, rule of law and democracy. Progress in the EU accession agenda is in focus for Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as are improved European perspectives for Georgia. The Partnership for Good Governance programme will continue supporting Armenia and Azerbaijan and is also foreseen to support co-operation with representatives of Belarusian democratic forces and civil society.

Promoting equality and non-discrimination

Ukraine: Meeting with national stakeholders on results obtained since 2019

Regional: two seminars with equality body representatives from Eastern Partnership countries and the Western Balkans [1, 2]. The first marked the international day to counter hate speech, giving an opportunity to raise awareness of the risks posed by hate speech to human rights, democracy and the rule of law and take collective action to implement the principles of the Council of Europe Recommendation on Combating Hate Speech. The second allowed for exchange on best practices and harmonisation of their approach in combating discrimination, hatred and racism, in particular their needs in view of the adaptation of local legislations and policies to align with European standards including the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan as well as relevant recommendations from the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and other relevant standards.

Countering economic crime

Armenia: Workshop on risk-based Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation and supervision in the area of virtual assets aiming to support the representatives of the supervisory authorities of the financial sector of Armenia to discuss and enhance risk-based AML/CFT regulation and supervision of virtual asset service providers, and the area of virtual assets more broadly.

Azerbaijan: Workshop on the latest mechanisms for confiscation of proceeds from crime aiming to reinforce the judicial staff and law enforcement’s knowledge and skills on the types and techniques of confiscation as well as management of seized and confiscated assets.

Strengthening justice

Armenia: The new website of the Armenian Court of Cassation is now online, ensuring better access to decisions and increase public confidence and transparency. Developed with the support of the PGG.

Georgia: High-level conference “Criminal Justice legal framework: Areas for further improvement and ongoing reform in Georgia” on legislative and practical issues to be addressed for the further improvement of the criminal justice legislative framework, including outstanding issues requiring effective actions by the authorities in the context of the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Republic of Moldova: Launch of JUSTAT AIS, a tool that will help Moldovan authorities to improve efficiency and transparency of courts.

The Venice Commission adopted the following legal opinions:

ARMENIA

Amicus curiae Brief for the Constitutional Court of Armenia on certain questions relating to the Law on the Forfeiture of Assets of Illicit Origin (16-17 December 2022)

GEORGIA

Joint opinion of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR on draft amendments to the Election Code and the Law on Political Associations of Citizens, approved by the Council for Democratic Elections at its 75th meeting (16-17 December 2022)

Interim opinion on the draft law on de-oligarchisation (10-11 March 2023)

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

Opinion on amendments to the Audiovisual Media Services Code and to some Normative Acts including the ban on symbols associated with and used in military aggression actions (21-22 October 2022)

Opinion on the draft law on the Intelligence and Security Service, as well as on the draft law on counterintelligence and external intelligence activity (10-11 March 2023)