Romania and Bulgaria asked to unveil communist archives before EU entry

Romania and Bulgaria have to open the files from the communist period before entering the European Union, according to the head of the German department for the study of communist archives, Joachim Gauck, quoted by the Deutsche Welle online site.

He said that former collaborators of the communist secret police are members of all the political parties in Romania, adding that these people are trying to hinder the opening of the communist files.

Gauck pointed out that both Romania and Bulgaria have to abide by certain European standards, which includes the right to have free access to communist files in former communist states, such as the two.

He also pledged for a thorough analysis of the communist past, explaining that Romanians and Bulgarians have to be able to say who was a victim of the communist dictatorship, and who was among the regime's supporters.

Gauck also stressed the importance of people having access to their file, this being a significant feature of a democracy.

According to him, it is more difficult to unveil the communist archives in the Eastern European states, as the former leaders in this region still have vast influence in society and can hinder the process.

He supported his words with examples of Romanian judges and prosecutors, saying that many of them held the same positions during communism that they hold today and have remained loyal to that regime.

"These people understand justice in a wrong and false manner," Gauck concluded, explaining that this is why the justice reform has taken so long in Romania.

Gauck made these statements while visiting the Bulgarian capital, where authorities have set up an institution to study the communist archives.

Members of the Romanian Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) also participated at the event.

Six hundred journalists to be checked for Securitate files

However, other members of the body that remained in the country received yesterday another list with 600 names of journalists, news editors, editors in chief, analysts and columnists, from the Civic Media NGO.

The organization has requested the council to check if these 600 people had ties with the former secret communist police, the Securitate.

This is the second list with journalists the organization has submitted to the CNSAS, and also includes names of different politicians that have had leading positions in the media, such as current Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, who was the director of a commercial radio station, former Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, and other deputies and senators.

The representatives of Civic Media have asked that all people included on their list send copies of their IDs to the CNSAS, in order to expedite the process.

Editor's Note: Bucharest Daily News' general manager, Laura Lica, and editor in chief, Monica Bonea, are also on the list of journalists who will be checked by CNSAS. Although they were 11 and 12 years old, respectively, when the anti-communist revolution took place, it has been proven that the Securitate was recruiting informers as young as 9 years old.