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"After the revolution, Armenia has succeeded in achieving high standards, ensuring freedom of speech, expression and free meetings," EU Ambassador to Armenia Piotr Świtalski  said Friday during a discussion on “Freedom of Speech: Where is the boundaries?".

"We hope that during this campaign, the hate speech will be minimized and eliminated as it kills democracy, has a negative impact on the political culture. We hope that as a result of these elections, Armenia will succeed in building a high-standard political culture," the ambassador said.

Piotr Świtalski noted that his impression is that now people feel more free in Armenia and they want to enjoy their freedoms.

"However, media, civil society, and political class are some of its most important components. Free speech is not necessarily beautiful, polite, soft, it can be rude and painful. But it also has its merits. What needs to be learned in the political field of Armenia is that a political figure shoud be more thick-skinned than an ordinary man," said the EU official.

“Armenia needs new legislation, new environment, which will ensure the media activity. The European Union is committed to supporting the formation of a new media environment in Armenia that will ensure free and independent media activities," the EU Ambassador said.