YEREVAN. – The Venice Commission agrees with the Armenian authorities’ idea of changing the long-standing  judges of the Constitutional Court. Vahagn Hovakimyan, an MP from the ruling My Step bloc, stated this at Monday’s special sitting of the National Assembly of Armenia.

According to him, European experts agree with the approach that the judges of the Constitutional Court should have equal powers. "Thus, the experts share the authorities’ opinion that the powers of the long-standing judges should not be more than those of the new judges," Hovakimyan said.

To note paragraph 82 of the Venice Commission's conclusion states that Commission regrets that a proposal for constitutional amendments was introduced in the Armenian parliament on the day of the adoption by the Venice Commission of its opinion, and added that this proposal is not in line with the recommendations in the aforesaid opinion.

Sending the bill to the Constitutional Court, which was not done by the National Assembly, is a controversial issue.

According to the advice of the Venice Commission, the draft should be sent to the Constitutional Court.