On 18 March 2009, at the European Parliament’s headquarters in Bruxelles the public hearing “European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After” took place. The hearing was organised by the Czech presidency of the European Union.
Representatives from the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes and the Security Services Archive from Czech Republic, the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, the Institute of Contemporary History in France attended the meeting. The Institute for the Investigation of Communist Crimes in Romania was represented by a delegation led by Marius Oprea, the president of the Institute.
The main topic of discussion was the establishment of a European platform of memory and conscience to support the activities of institutions engaged in reconciling with totalitarian regimes in Europe. The Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism adopted on 3 June 2008 was analysed as well.
