European Conscience and Crimes of Totalitarian Communism: 20 Years After

Public Hearing in the EU Parliament – March 18th, 2009

The Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra and the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU Milena Vicenová on behalf of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU in cooperation with MEPs supporting the Prague Declaration.

Programme

Part 1: Our Common History: A Common European Platform
Chair: Tunne Kelam, MEP, Estonia

• Pavel Žáček, Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Czech Republic
• Emmanuel Crabit, European Commission, DG JFS
• Emanuelis Zingeris, International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania, Lithuania
• Marius Oprea, Institute for the Investigation of the Communist Crimes, Romania
• Hans Altendorf, Office of the Federal Commissioner (BStU), Germany

• Vasil Kadrinov, Hannah Arendt Center, Bulgaria

• Nicolas Werth, Institute for Contemporary History, CNRS, France
• Camilla Andersson, Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism, Sweden

Debate with: Alain Blum (FR), Maciej Korkuć (PL), Miklós Kun, Ágnes Gereben and Mária Schmidt (HU), Toomas Hiio (EE), Dainius Zalimas (LT), Vladimir Tismaneanu (RO), Ivaylo Znepolski and Sezgin Myumyun (BG) and many others

Part 2: How Does Europe Reconcile with its Totalitarian Legacy?
Chair: Jana Hybášková, MEP, Czech Republic

• Alexandr Vondra, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, Czech Republic
• Ján Figeľ, European Commissioner, DG EAC
• Alejo Vidal-Quadras, MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Spain

• Jan Zahradil, MEP, Czech Republic
• László Tökés, MEP, Romania

• Sandra Kalniete, former European Commissioner, Latvia

Debate with: Vytautas Landsbergis (MEP, LT), József Szájer (MEP, HU), Nickolay Mladenov (MEP, BG), Györgi Schöpflin (MEP, HU), Girts Valdis Kristovskis (MEP, LV), Peter Šťastný (MEP, SK), Latchezar Toshev (MP, BG), Martin Mejstřík (former Senator, CZ) and many others