25 years since the collapse of communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe celebrated in Bucharest

Former president Emil Constantinescu invited on November 20 the representatives of resistance and fight against communism from Eastern Europe, and he thanked them in the opening of the international conference celebrating 25 years since the falling of communist dictatorships at the Parliament Palace.

The conference heading “25 years since the collapse of communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe: looking back, looking forward” was attended by former state heads of central and eastern Europe; it opened with a moment of silence in the memory of all the fallen fighters against the criminal communist regime in Romania. Among the guests are Lech Walesa, former Polish president, Petăr Stoyanov, former Bulgarian president, Stanislav Shushkevich, former Belarus president, Sali Berisha, former Albanian president, Petru Lucinschi, former Republic of Moldavia president, Rexhep Meidani, former Albanian president, Rudolf Schuster, former Slovakian president, Boris Tadic, former Serbian president, Viktor Iusenko, former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma, former Ukrainian president, Valdis Zatlers, former Latvian president and Hans- Gert Pottering, former president of the European Parliament.

Currently, Romania is the only ex-communist country that does not have a museum dedicated to this subject. The elected president, Klaus Iohannis, promised to pledge for the construction of this kind of site, after a visit to Sighet, where it is the Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance, founded by Ana Blandiana and Romulus Rusan.

At the event held at the Palace of Parliament, former president of Romania, Ion Iliescu, wasn’t invited, although he was in charge of the first steps in democracy as the Romanian leader of those times, as well as the current president Traian Basescu. Moreover, invitations were sent to Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who is currently on vacantion, and to the elected president, Klaus Iohannis, who didn’t confirm his presence at the conference.

Photo credit „Emil Constantinescu” de DoD photo by R. D. Ward – U.S. Department of Defense, 980717-D-9880W-030.