The Romanian Revolution, debated in the European Parliament

For the first time the European Parliament has devoted one of its debates to the Romanian anticommunist revolution of 1989

Bogdan Matei, 17.12.2019, 14:15

Sunday will mark 30 years since the anticommunist revolution in Romania. On December 22, 1989, under the pressure of the hundreds of thousands of protesters, dictators Nicolae Ceausescu fled the headquarters of the communist partys Central Committee. Captured and subsequently subjected to a speedy trial, Ceausescu and his wife were executed on December 25 in a barracks in Targoviste. Romania was the only country in Eastern Europe where the toppling of the communist regime was produced with bloodshed. Shortly after the revolution broke out on December 16 in Timisoara, many people were killed, shot down by the so-called terrorists, whose identity is yet to be ascertained. On Monday evening, the European Parliament met in Strasbourg and debated the marking of 30 years since the Romanian Revolution. A European Commission declaration evokes the violence that marked the Romanian revolution and the peoples struggle to topple the oppressive communist regime. European Commissioner for Transport, Romanian Adina Valean, a member of the EPP and the National Liberal Party, read the declaration in Parliament, highlighting the need to pay homage to the Romanians sacrifice and the fact that Europe must make sure that no other member state should see such bloody events.

“It is important to keep the memory of those events alive, to remember the extraordinary effort and loss of lives Romanians had to go through to obtain their freedom. I understand the European Parliament will pass a resolution of its own, and I think it is important that all these documents represent a testimony of the dangers of dictatorship, of populism, of attacks on the foundations of democracy. Since many European politicians from other member states are very young, its key they should always remember and act together to defend the community against events such as Romanians had to endure”.

In turn MEP Carmen Avram told RRI more about the resolution the European Parliament is expected to pass on Thursday.

“The document seeks to uncover the truth behind the events of 1989. 30 years have since passed and its embarrassing for us, as a country, to still not have the answers. Its inadmissible to be a 20-million-strong country and have 20 million versions of the revolution, since each of us has fabricated his own version in the absence of truth. Its important people still talk about the revolution. The resolution will be passed and I hope the situation in Romania is brought to the European fore, and at the same time Romanians should be more mindful of whats happening in their country and on the continent. Once the resolution is passed, we need to address how education on the communist regime and the revolution is done in schools, to see whether more needs doing and to step up our efforts when we talk about our recent past”.

The revolution was also marked on Monday in a solemn session in the Romanian Parliament.

(Translated by V. Palcu)