YEREVAN (Armenpress)–The speaker of Armenian Parliament Arthur Baghdasarian–met today with members of the Council of Europe Ministers’ Committee group known as the Ago Group–headed by Pietro Erkole Ago.
The Armenian Parliament welcomed the guests–while Baghdasarian spoke of the importance of the group’s visit to Armenia–and the necessity of effective cooperation to move Armenia toward European integration.
Ago–visiting the Armenian Parliament for the first time since the May 25 parliamentary elections–congratulated the speaker and expressed hope that Parliament will work effectively to fulfill commitmen’s assumed by Armenia when joining CE. He also attached importance to the resolution of issues concerning constitutional reforms–reforms in Armenia’s Electoral Code and the elimination of the death penalty.
Baghdasarian pledged that Armenia is determined to fulfill these commitmen’s. He said that the first steps have already been taken in the case of constitutional reforms–and revealed that a new set of laws for constitutional reforms will be formulated in close cooperation with the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe–better known as the Venice Commission.
He added that the issue of ratifying the 6th protocol of the Convention on Human Rights (elimination of the death penalty) will be included in Parliament’s autumn session agenda. Baghdasarian spoke about the importance of reforming the Electoral Code by forming a parliamentary commission so that Armenian laws correspond to European standards.
Speaking on the importance of defending human rights–Baghdasarian stated that–on the suggestion of the Venice commission–Armenia must first establish an ombudsman commission before discussing constitutional reforms. Legislative reforms are also expected on regulating the media.
