European memory platform to be founded in Prague

Prague, Oct 3 (CTK) - Prime ministers of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries will attend the signing of the agreement on The Platform of European Memory and Conscience on October 14 in Prague, Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian regimes (USTR) head Daniel Herman said yesterday.

The Czech Republic promoted the establishment of the platform already in early 2009 during its presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Herman said the platform would coordinate the study of the totalitarian past on European level.

Nineteen institutions from 13 countries will cooperate within the platform seated in Prague that will also have an office in Brussels.

Herman said one of the first joint projects might be a European history textbook.

"When the countries of the former Eastern bloc entered the EU, their totalitarian communist past became a part of the European heritage.

Herman also said the platform might work out a handbook that would show other countries what is needed to do when replacing a totalitarian regime with a democratic one.

Apart from institutions from the V4 countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), the platform will be joined by organisations of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia, and Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.