East Europe marks 20 years without communism, but the ex-secret services dossiers still intoxicate the society. Elsewhere in the news, the Romanian press reads about the plot to remove communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 20 years ago. Last but not least, Romania's president Traian Basescu and temporary minister confirmed information leaks to unauthorised persons from the Interior Ministry’s secret service archives.
"East Europe marks 20 years without communism, but the ex-secret services dossiers still intoxicate the society", Cotidianul reads, in an article quoting William J. Kole from Associated Press. The dossiers written for the ex-communist intelligence are not 100% open to the public in East Europe.
In Romania, there were approximately 700,000 collaborators informing the Securitate on 22 million citizens, but over two million dossiers are classified. In Hungary, 27% of the dossiers have access denied, while in Poland and the Czech Republic, there are fierce debates on the laws allowing access to the papers.
Ex-Securitate generals, now holding key positions in the Romanian political scene and the business environment, are said to have destroyed their own dossiers, the publication goes on. The Romanian authority for studying the Securitate archives (CNSAS) said the institution is 70.000 dossiers short, since they are considered classified.
Romanian writer Stelian Tanase read his huge dossier and has, since then, taken his discussions in parks or on the streets, where he cannot be listened to. Herta Müller, the German writer of Romanian origin who was recently awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, accuses the Romanian Government for keeping important dossiers classified. Romanian political analyst Cornel Nistorescu has claimed that this is possible because it is the same people governing the country.
Vaclav H
