Andrea Viktorin: In Armenia, there is a positive trend in  establishing cooperation between the authorities and civil society

ArmInfo. I was happy to observe the positive progress of the electoral processes in Armenia in 2018 and the involvement of civil society in the formation of this  institution. Head of EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Andrea  Viktorin announced at the closing of  the Pursuing Positive Change  through Empowering Civil Society Project on November 29.

According to the EU Ambassador, independent media and civil society  are a counterbalance to the authorities and represent additional  value in the formation of an inclusive society.

<I am from a country where I had to constantly convince the  government that civil society is an adding value and, indeed, it is  important to listen to their voices. After all, it's much easier to  oppose the authorities, to say that it is undemocratic, not to  respect the rule of law, to blame corruption, but at the same time,  it's much more difficult to work with the government, which is moving  in the right direction, since in this case it's not just necessary to  criticize, but propose solutions>,  said Victorin, recalling that  today a lot of work is underway in reforming the judicial system in  Armenia.

The head of the EU delegation in Armenia believes that the  establishment of a power-media-civil society dialogue will help  identify problems that could be missed by competent structures and  become mutually beneficial for all parties. <It is not always easy to  convey the importance of these institutions to the authorities, but  in Armenia positive dynamics in establishing the necessary  connections. Civil society always strives for operational results,  but we need to evaluate everything objectively and design development  strategies carefully and thoughtfully>, she said, emphasizing the  EU's desire to build an inclusive society. In turn,  Executive  Director of  Open Society Foundations Armenia Larisa Minasyan stated  that there are "groups of people" in Armenia who are trying to sow  seeds of distrust in the success of the revolution, noting that the  mission of the Fuondation is to strengthen the role of civil society.  

<Under the previous authorities, our activity was focused on  monitoring, this work took a lot of time, but the matter was  complicated by the fact that there was no uniform and effective  approach with the authorities in various areas, which became the  reason for manipulation. This knowledge and base could not become a  fulcrum for continuous work, as this represented a great danger. But  the situation has now obviously changed, the degree of trust in  relations between society and the government has grown  significantly>, Minasyan said.  In this regard, the Director of the  Foundation noted the important role of the media in ensuring  pluralism of opinions, and not the dissemination of false  information.  Chairperson of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO  Daniel Ioannisyan, in turn, stated that the events of last year  changed the essence of the work of civil society, emphasizing that  civil society was one of the most established institutions in Armenia  both before and after the revolution. At the same time, Ioannisyan  admitted that today it is difficult to criticize the authorities, due  to the high level of public trust.  <After the revolution, the  authorities agreed that there were problems and turned to civil  society to find a solution to the problems, however, there is little  criticism today, it is also necessary to propose solutions, "he  concluded.