Vice President Maria Dmochowska on a working visit in Brussels – January 18, 2010

Vice President Maria Dmochowska represented the Institute of National Remembrance during a meeting in Brussels on January 18, 2010 that was arranged by the Czech Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů (The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes), which took under its auspices the initiative inspired by the resolution of the European Parliament, recommending the creation of a common Platform of European Memory and Conscience. Such an intergovernmental organization would be responsible for condemning the legacy of Communism and Nazism, and prevent any other totalitarianisms from emerging in the future.

The meeting was initiated with a press conference on the premises of the Council of Europe, which included a presentation of crimes committed by the totalitarian regimes of countries represented by the institutions involved in the “Platform” project (25 institutions out of 19 nations in total). The conference was presided by Dr. Neela Winkelmann from USTR and Mr. Göran Lindblad, Chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The conference was followed by a debate in the Czech Institute in Brussels, where the members of all present institutions examined and discussed the details of the agreement presented by USTR. The final version of the negotiated contract will be send out to the respective Foreign Affairs authorities who will then be able to pass it on the right legislative road in order for the agreement to become a part of international governmental law. The full and final version of the agreement will be presented during a conference in Prague, on February 24-26, 2010, by most of the signing parties and their institutions.