Tuesday, January 23 2018 13:07

ArmInfo. Armenia received a new Constitution with the assistance of the Council of Europe. This was stated by Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn  Jagland at the opening of the PACE winter session on January 22.

"If you doubt our importance, look at the realities: we cooperate  with the member states, and the benefits of our activities are real,"  Jagland said. As an example of the effective activity of the  structure headed by him, the CoE Secretary General has implemented  the implementation of 500 cases of the European Court in Russia, the  views of the Venice Commission on Laws in Georgia, Poland, the  Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Ukraine. 

Conducted Constitutional changes in Armenia, the introduction of  criminal legal measures in Azerbaijan to expand the use of  punishments not related to deprivation of liberty, the functioning of  a national commission in Turkey that examines the legitimacy of  dismissals of state officials and other measures taken within the  framework of the state of emergency introduced in the country .  According to Jagland, all of the above did not happen by accident.  "All these changes were due to the fact that these countries are part  of our family of nations, and we work together to ensure compliance  with standards," the Secretary General of the Council of Europe  stressed.

Recall, changes in the Constitution of Armenia were initiated by the  ruling Republican Party headed by President of Armenia Serzh  Sargsyan. According to the changes, Armenia passes from the  presidential form to the parliamentary form of government. The  constitutional referendum was held in Armenia on December 6, 2015. As  a result of the referendum, 825,851 voters voted to change the  Constitution (63.35%), against 421,600 (32.35%). The number of  invalid ballots was 53 332 with a turnout of 50.8%.