Romania: a public register for Securitate families?
Romania's Minister of Economic Affairs Claudiu Năsui has proposed a law that would create a public register listing all employees of the notorious former communist secret police Securitate as well as their relatives. Under the rule of communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, which ended in 1989, the Securitate spied on opponents and persecuted them. The national press is not convinced by Năsui's proposal.
Don't go back to guilt by association
The Romanian service of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle says the project brings back unpleasant memories of Stalinist times:
“The Securitate often preached that blood was thicker than water. In other words: children bore the weight of the skeletons in the family closet, the burdens of their parents and other relatives, even if they personally chose a completely different path. ... In a liberal democracy, each individual is responsible only for himself and no one can be prosecuted for having had collaborators in the family. A list of Securitate informers and collaborators in the families of politicians will not provide clarity but rather cloud the view of what really counts and [be used to] compromise those one may consider inconvenient.”
Better to investigate dirty capitalist deals of the nineties
Libertatea sees Năsui's proposal as a brazen move:
“It's as if the Securitate itself had passed a law against Securitate people. How else can the long series of charges against petty fellow travellers, more or less despicable informants and unofficial collaborators be interpreted, while the whole clique that was once at the top of the Securitate hierarchy retains a mountain of privileges and special pensions? ... The minister is pretty bold; almost all of his family is a prime example of the red bourgeoisie, with relatives in foreign trade and other lucrative sectors. ... What we need is a register of all the dirty capitalist deals [after the fall of Ceaușescu in 1989] that took place at the expense of the losers who had no such relatives. ”