Venice Commission delegation says opinion on amendments to criminal codes to be adopted at Oct. 19-20 session

President Klaus Iohannis welcomed a delegation of the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe, the Venice Commission in short, at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace on Thursday, with the members of this body mentioning that the commission's opinion on the amendments to Romania's Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure is to be adopted at a plenary session on October 19-20, according to a statement from the Presidential Administration.

The Venice Commission delegation and President Iohannis praised the commission for its technical expertise as well as the importance of its views expressed both on Romania's justice legislation and on the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Iohannis reiterated the main issues raised by the new form of the criminal legislation as voted by Parliament.

"In this context, the President of Romania has shown that the amendments to the criminal codes diminish predictability and unbalance the judiciary, as one of the effects envisaged is to benefit politicians implicated in criminal cases. President Klaus Iohannis argued that destroying legislative coherence is unacceptable. He stressed that the amendments proposed by the current parliamentary majority risk compromising the efforts of late to strengthen the judiciary," the Presidential Administration showed.

Iohannis pointed out that the involvement and support of the Venice Commission's experts is meant to help Romania get modern and efficient legislation.

The meeting took place during the preparation of the commission's opinion on the recent amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure passed by the Romanian Parliament. In this case, the Venice Commission was notified by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. AGERPRES (RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Rodica State)

Photo source: www.presidency.ro