EU envoy: Business should be separated from politics (video)

“Armenia will benefit seriously if it separates politics from business,” Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Świtalski said on February 1. The idea of a conflict of interest is very important, there must be clarity here. Politics should not serve business interests, and vice versa, businesses must not go into politics,” Mr Świtalski said at a news conference announcing the start of the awareness campaign Stop Corruption. The campaign was developed by the Armenian government in cooperation with representatives of civil society and private sector The campaign was developed by the government in collaboration with civil society and private sector representatives. The European Union has already $15 million to the program and is ready to continue its support through various initiatives. Piotr Świtalski said it would be wrong to say that the previous governments did not do anything; there were very active people in the previous governments. During the campaign, the organizers explain that corruption is an evil which can have destructive consequences for society. “The next phase will be dedicated to the fight against political corruption. Before the parliamentary elections, it is highly important to speak about negative practices which undermine electoral processes, especially vote rigging, vote buying and electoral fraud in general, which results in extremely negative consequences in Armenia,” Ambassador Piotr Switalski stressed. The aim of the campaign is to raise public awareness of corruption and actively engage civil society in the campaign.