"For the development of democracy it is necessary to have independent judicial system, free and fair elections and freedom of speech. And exactly freedom of speech makes democracy irreversible," President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) René van der Linden stated to a press conference in Yerevan. He said, Armenia is a full member of the Council of Europe and is still fulfilling all commitments. "PACE's monitoring missions aim at giving advises and not punishing. In this respect the last report on Armenia was obviously better of previous ones," the PACE President said.

Speaking about Armenia-EU Action Plan in the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy, René van der Linden underlined that the program will give opportunities for Armenia to integrate to Europe faster. PACE President confirmed the positive evaluation of the Armenian parliamentary elections and expressed hope that all violations and mistakes will be corrected till the 2008 presidential elections.