The European Public Hearing on European Conscience
and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years
After was a European public hearing organised
by the Czech Presidency of the European Union
in the European Parliament on 18 March 2009.
The hearing was described by the Presidency
as "the third step towards 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 hearing was hosted by the Deputy
Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr
Vondra and the Permanent Representative of
the Czech Republic to the European Union Milena
Vicenová on behalf of the Czech Presidency
of the Council of the European Union, in cooperation
with MEPs supporting the Prague Declaration.The
first session, chaired by Tunne Kelam MEP,
included speeches by Pavel Žáček (Director,
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes),
Emmanuel Crabit (European Commission Directorate-General
of Justice, Freedom and Security), Emanuelis
Zingeris (Chairman, International Commission
for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi
and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania),
Marius Oprea (Institute for the Investigation
of Communist Crimes in Romania), Hans Altendorf
(Office of the Federal Commissioner for the
Stasi Records), Vasil Kadrinov (Hannah Arendt
Center), Nicolas Werth (Institute for Contemporary
History, CNRS), and Camilla Andersson (Institute
for Information on the Crimes of Communism).
The second session, chaired by Jana Hybášková
MEP, included speeches by Alexandr Vondra
(Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs
of the Czech Republic), Ján Figeľ (European
Commissioner for Education), Alejo Vidal-Quadras
MEP (Vice President of the European Parliament),
Jan Zahradil MEP, László Tökés MEP, and
Sandra Kalniete (former European Commissioner).
The conclusions called for "the establishment
of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience"
and supported the proclamation of the European
Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism
and Nazism.The hearing was followed by a resolution
of the European Parliament on European conscience
and totalitarianism of 2 April 2009
