The commission in its report refuses to take a stand regarding the choice of federal or confederal organization for the joint state of Serbia and Montenegro, but instead focuses on the "legal procedural aspects leading towards a solution", carefully analyzing conditions that must be fulfilled for a change in the constitutional status of Montenegro.
The Venice Commission points out that the Montenegrin Constitution defines "a change in the status of the state" and that a referendum is needed for every such change. Since possible decision about independence, reached in a referendum, would require a change of the constitution of Montenegro, which specifies that Montenegro is a part of FRY, the referendum decision must be confirmed by a two-third majority in the parliament. In that respect, the commission views a referendum as a "necessary" but not "sufficient" condition for independence.
The commission forcefully argued against the proposed arguments that the will of the people has constitutional force which is capable of annulling the current constitution.
"Democracy cannot be boiled down to a simple expression of popular will," the commission points out and draws attention to its earlier report, "Pointers for constitutional referendums at the national level", which specify that "referendums must be in accordance with the legal system as a whole, and especially those stipulations dealing with the revision of the constitution".
Besides the obligatory confirmation of the referendum outcome with the two-thirds majority in the parliament, the commission advocates that the decision in the referendum be reached by a "clear and significant" majority, also noting that "there are no international standards regarding this issue".
The commission also proposes that only residents of Montenegro take part in the referendum, considering that the condition that they be residents for 24 months may be too strict. In the conclusion of the report, the Venice Commission states that, based on the similarities of the platforms proposed by the Serbian and Montenegrin side, "it is not impossible to reach a compromise", among other based on the proposal for the constitutional basis for a new federation of Serbia and Montenegro, prepared by the Belgrade Human Rights Center.