On 4 February, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the country's President Armen Sarkissian in order to discuss the ongoing conflict between the Armenian government and the Constitutional Court (CC).  

“I am glad that the President of Armenia and I share the same principles and have the same notions of the paths to the solution to the situation connected to the Constitutional Court,” wrote Pashinyan on Facebook.

A member of Sarkissian’s public relations staff stated earlier that Sarkissian follows the processes taking place over the Constitutional Court and believes that each process must take place in exclusively legal platform and must not endanger the country’s stability and international authority.

On 3 February, President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio issued a statement following the developments over the Constitutional Court in Armenia and actions of Armenia's authorities. “I would like to recall the recommendations made in the opinion of the Venice Commission adopted in October 2019 that any early retirement scheme at the Constitutional Court has to remain truly voluntary, exclude any undue political or personal pressure on the judges concerned and must be designed not to influence the outcome of pending cases. Recent public statements and acts do not meet these criteria and will not be conducive to deescalating the situation. Democratic culture and maturity require institutional restraint, good faith and mutual respect between State institutions. I call again on all sides to exercise restraint and to de-escalate this worrying situation in order to ensure the normal operation of the constitution of Armenia,“ Buquicchio said in the statement. 

Members of the opposition parties in Armenia also criticized the current developments related to the CC in Armenia. Prosperous Armenia parliamentarian Naira Zohrabyan called the bill presented by the My Step lawmaker Vahagn Hovakimyan as an illegitimate and unconstitutional document. “The aim of the bill is to leave the Constitutional Court out of all processes, and if it is passed in parliament on February 6, it will truly lead to serious consequences. I am also a citizen of Armenia, but I haven’t given anyone the mandate to solve the issue related to the Constitutional Court. Moreover, I believe there are more important issues in our country,“ she stated. 

She also emphasized that it was necessary to understand that the statements of PACE and Buquicchio weren’t made to punish or encourage anyone, but rather they were made for drawing conclusions.

Head of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan said that the statement by the PACE co-rapporteurs and the statement by the president of the Venice Commission both contained a certain call to the authorities in different terms. “The first was aimed at preserving the recommendations on passing to the early retirement system [for the serving Constitutional Court judges], and the second was on the tension that exists today,“ he said. 

“Both statements were misinterpreted by the authorities and were interpreted in their favour. That is, when the authorities say, 'we welcome that statement,' they want to cover up that whole part of the concern. I shall call it trolling,” he added.

Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE and member of the majority My Step faction Ruben Rubinyan stated that he definitely shared the concern of the PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia that there is a great tension between the staff of the two institutions. "I think this is not normal. I also think that this is a result of the fact that the Constitutional Court President has made numerous political statements that are of an opposition nature. That is, the Constitutional Court President, who should not be involved in politics, actually makes political statements,“ he said.

The Vice-Chairman of Armenia’s National Assembly Alen Simonyan confirmed that the Armenian authorities did not apply to the Venice Commission for an opinion over the package of bills on constitutional amendment. “The authorities of the Republic of Armenia are accountable only to the people who voted for them. If the Armenian authorities find it expedient and right in legal regard, to apply to the Venice Commission or any other body for advisory opinion, we will do it. In the rest of the cases we are accountable to the people,” he said.

“People of Armenia voted for us to solve the existing situation in Armenia, in all the branches, to solve the crisis existing in the judicial power, which is being fixed and confirmed by all the sides. The judicial power is the last bastion of the former authorities. We have liberated two other branches of the power, and I think we will bring this process to the end this year and will finally forget everything that happened during the past 30 years,” he added.

On 1 February, the Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said that they were very concerned by the high level of tension between the Armenian government and the Constitutional Court (CC). On 30 January, Armenia’s Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan told the reporters, after a cabinet meeting, that he doesn’t exclude that constitutional changes planned by the Armenian authorities will fully change the composition of the country’s Constitutional Court (Caucasus Watch reported).