On September 28 Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee Mr. Mikko Elo, Mr. Georges Colombier and Secretary Mrs. Despina Chatzivassiliou met with the Armenian Parliamentary delegation to PACE. Mrs. Bojana Urumova, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to Armenia, was present at the meeting.

The core issue of the meeting was the issue of the reform of the legislative field after the Constitutional amendments, the dialogue of government-opposition, the freedom of mass media.

Mr. Colombier mentioned that the Council of Europe attaches great importance to the holding of free and fair 2007 Parliamentary elections and 2008 Presidential elections in Armenia, which is of great significance for the development of democracy in Armenia. Mr. Colombier also highlighted the issue of pluralism and freedom of mass media in Armenia, touched upon the draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the RA Law on Television and Radio, which is currently under discussion in the Parliament, highlighting the discussions of the draft law with the experts of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission, before the adoption in the second and third readings,

Mr. Artashes Geghamyan, member of the Armenian Delegation to PACE, referring to the issue of legislation improvement deriving from the Constitutional reforms, noted that important laws are adopted without serious discussions. In his opinion, laws are not taken into force and the Constitutional provisions are violated. He mentioned that the National Unity faction participated in the reediting of the Electoral Code, presenting 21 proposals, among which only the proposal on turning to 100% proportional electoral system was not adopted.

Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee Mr. Mikko Elo, Mr. Georges Colombier and Secretary Mrs. Despina Chatzivassiliou met with the Chairmen of the National Assembly Standing Committees on State and Legal Affairs and Foreign Relations.

Upon the request of the guests, Mr. Armen Rustamyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and Mr. Rafik Petrosyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs presented the working procedure, formation, field of activity, purpose, functions and competencies of the NA Standing Committees. It was noted that according to the Constitutional amendments, in the forth convocation of the National Assembly it is envisaged to have up to 12 standing committees instead of the current 6. The procedure of the convocation of the extraordinary sittings and sessions, the drafts’ adoption was also presented.

Upon the request of the guests, the Chairmen of the NA Standing Committees touched upon the process of the implementation of the Constitutional Court decisions, reforms in the judicial legal system, relations of judicial and executive power as well.

The Rapporteur of the PACE Monitoring Committee Mr. Mikko Elo highlighted the participation of independent experts in the process of the elaboration of drafts, observing that as an important factor in the process of democracy establishment. The parallels were drawn among the Parliamentary Committees of Armenia, France and Finland.

The Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee Mr. Mikko Elo and Mr. Georges Colombier met with representatives of Justice and National Unity factions, the Parliament opposition forces.

Mr. Stepan Demirchyan, Head of Justice faction, presented the stance of the opposition regarding the European values, saying: ”The Euro integration has no alternative in Armenia.” The Head of the opposition referred to the Constitutional reforms, speaking about carrying out the responsibilities undertaken by our country in the Council of Europe. He drew the Rapporteurs’ attention to the 2003 elections, as a result of which the society, according to Mr. Demirchyan, lost the confidence in future elections. To gain that confidence to some extent, the opposition finds it necessary to punish those who rigged the elections, reopen the “A1+” TV Company, and completely exclude cases of violations towards independent mass media. According to Mr. Vazgen Manukyan, member of the faction, it is possible to bring back gradually the democracy to Armenia with the assistance of the European structures. Otherwise, an outburst might occur, which is not desirable, concluded Mr. Manukyan. Mr. Koryun Arakelyan, member of the National Unity faction, talked about the information blockade carried out towards the opposition.

On September 28 the Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee Mr. Mikko Elo and Mr. Georges Colombier met with Mr. Gorgen Arsenyan, Mr. Grigor Ghonjeyan, Mr. Gegham Manukyan and Mr. Mkrtich Minasyan, the representatives of the National Assembly coalition factions and “People’s Deputy” group.

The two main issues were discussed at the meeting: How is the process of the legislative reforms stemming from the Constitutional amendments going on? And what is being done for holding fair and transparent 2007 Parliamentary elections and 2008 Presidential elections.

The representatives of groups and factions informed that active work is underway in the Parliament directed at bringing the legislation in compliance with Constitution: a number of laws and amendments have been already adopted, among which the Law on Constitutional Court was especially highlighted, as well as a number of laws, related to judicial legal system, are in the process of discussions and the Law on the NA Rules of Procedures. It was mentioned that the discussions of the Electoral Code with the experts of the Venice Commission are under consideration, which the National Assembly will try to complete before the end of the session. The laws on the Government and the city of Yerevan are in the process of elaboration.

The representatives of the factions assured that the political forces, which were represented by them, will do their best to ensure fair and transparent upcoming elections, will try to ensure the pluralism and possible high level of awareness of the population.