Independent media and civil society are a major counterbalance for the government. This is what Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia Andrea Wiktorin declared during the event marking the end of the Pursuing Positive Change through Empowering Civil Society Project.

According to her, working with civil society is one of the priorities of the EU policy so that the EU can give adequate responses to processes.

“It’s always easy to criticize, but hard to develop a joint development strategy and shape the expected outcome. The work of independent media and civil society is also very important for the government since they can help clarify the issues that the authorized bodies might have missed,” she explained.

Victorin noted that it’s often difficult to make the authorities understand how important these institutions are, but she notices positive dynamics for the establishment of necessary relations in Armenia. She expressed satisfaction with the electoral processes that took place in Armenia last year and added that civil society made its contribution to the development of this institution.

“Civil society always aspires for prompt outcomes, but everything needs to be assessed objectively,” Wiktorin concluded.