“Thanks to the Venice Commission, Armenia was able to make constitutional reforms twice, both in 2005 and in 2015. We greatly praised the changes made in the constitution and the Commission’s work,” said the CoE Venice Commission President Gianni Buquicchio in the Armenian Constitutional Court during an international conference titled, “The New Millennium Constitutionalism.”
He said, “We were certain that Armenia had one of the best constitutions in Europe, but the citizens of Armenia were not satisfied with the country’s situation and they held a revolution this year. Does this mean that our evaluations were false? I don’t think so… the authorities simply did not appreciate the value of the new Constitution and they considered it to be a way to retain their authority. The people then demanded that the country’s authority belongs to them, and they should be able to make changes without violence.”
Gianni Buquicchio emphasized that the former authorities did not try to use force to remain in power in Armenia. “There are currently opinions circulating that there need to be changes in the government without violence. This is a good path for the future of Armenia. We hope that the new authorities in Armenia will govern according to the new Constitution, which will give them the opportunity to govern correctly. This does not mean that Armenia will become a budding democracy. No, new changes need to be made.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
