16th Meeting of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission, Karlsruhe, Germany, 18 - 19 May 2017.

Upon invitation of Mr. Schnutz Rudolf Dürr, Head of the Division for Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission, Mr. Kujtim Osmani, Secretary General of the Constitutional Court of Albania and Mrs. Noela Ruço, Director of Research, Studies and Publications of the Constitutional Court of Albania, and also liaison officer of the Venice Commission, attended the 16th meeting of the Joint Council on Constitutional Justice of the Venice Commission, who held the proceedings at the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in Karlsruhe on 18-19 May 2017.

This meeting was opened by the President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Mr. Andreas Voßkuhle, and the President of the Venice Commission, Mr. Gianni Buquicchio, who stressed the need for intensifying the cooperation as well as the exchanging of experiences and information among the representatives of the regional and linguistic groups who cooperate with the Venice Commission.

In addition, the Council was briefed on the Venice Commission's work and the opinions adopted by this Commission in the area of constitutional justice, as well as on the joint participation and organization of conferences and seminars in cooperation with the constitutional courts.

Participants attended also a mini-conference on the topic: "Brave Courts: Security, Xenophobia and Fundamental Rights".