On October 16 the meeting of the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by member states of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee) of PACE was held in the Gilded Chamber of the National Assembly.

Greeting the participants, Mr. Tigran Torosyan, the NA President, Head of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe thanked members of the PACE Bureau and Committee for accepting the invitation to hold the meeting in Yerevan.Mr. Torosyan mentioned that holding of the meeting in Armenia is symbolic in a few aspects: the 15^th anniversary of independence of Armenia and 5 years of membership in the PACE were celebrated in September. Noting that parliamentary elections are to be held in seven months, Mr. Torosyan expressed a hope that the fact of holding the Committee meeting in Armenia is a reminder not only that the manner of holding the elections is an important indicator of the degree of formation of legislative and executive branches of power and of the democracy quality in our country, but also it is an assistance in the efforts directed at conducting the elections in compliance with the CE standards and requirements. Mr. T. Torosyan mentioned that the Monitoring Committee meeting is a good chance to observe the current democracy reforms in Armenia in detail, which are becoming more important after almost one year of the Constitutional reforms. These reforms abolished the obstacles, which were limiting the reforms in local self-government, judicial systems, checks and balances system in state governance system. It was noted that due to the assistance of the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission and the PACE the reformed Constitution of Armenia meets the highest standards, and it is a necessary legal basis of democracy reforms in our country. Touching upon the changes that took place in Armenia after the Constitutional amendments, Mr. Torosyan particularly emphasized the abolition of administrative detention, granting the National Assembly the right to elect the Ombudsman and expansion of the circle of persons who are eligible to apply to the Constitutional Court; starting from July 1 the opportunity for citizens to apply to the Constitutional Court; the threshold of the MPs’ necessary signatures to apply to the Constitutional Court has decreased from 1/3 to 1/5, and due to that the opposition got the opportunity to appeal in the Constitutional Court the constitutionality of every law. According to Mr. T. Torosyan, from the viewpoint of independency insurance of local self-government system, the amendment to the law on Local Self-Government is of great importance: according to this amendment, the government may oust from office the elected supervisor only with the endorsement of the Constitutional Court. It was noted that the debates on the draft amendments to the Electoral Code with the experts from the Council of Europe and the OSCE are over, and the law would be adopted till the end of the year. An agreement was reached with the experts on all main issues of the Electoral Code.

Mr. T. Torosyan mentioned that it would be better to adopt amendments to the Law on Television and Radio till the end of the year, so the constitutional mechanism of setting up the committee regulating the activity of electronic mass media is enforced, which will be of great importance before the elections.

Mr. T. Torosyan mentioned that intensive works are expected next year as well, since the Judicial Code and the law on the City of Yerevan should be adopted. From the other hand Armenia is close to finish fulfilling its obligations and stop the monitoring next year, since at the end of 2004, in the Resolution 1405 the PACE mentioned that Armenia had ratified all the CE conventions, which were within the framework of fulfilling its obligations. A few laws are left to be adopted next year. But it is obvious that the quality of holding the upcoming elections is of great importance in this context.

On behalf of the National Assembly of Armenia Mr. T. Torosyan thanked the members of the Monitoring Committee, the Rapporteurs on Armenia Mr. Miko Elo and Mr. Georges Colombier and the secretariat for the excellent cooperation and assistance, which we felt in the course of carrying out the undertaken obligations while joining the CE.

The NA President expressed regret that the representatives of two neighbouring countries – Georgia and Azerbaijan – did not participate in the meeting. He is confident that the only chance for resolving the problems, which the member states face, is the joint discussion of the issues, including those within the framework of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as well.

At the end Mr. T. Torosyan wished effective work to those present and expressed readiness to organize meetings of the Monitoring Committee in Yerevan more often.

Then the works of the PACE Monitoring Committee were held behind the closed doors.