The head of the MAE provides examples of documents that will be declassified. “I don't see who would be afraid of the Romanian people, unless they betrayed in some way”
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oana Țoiu, spoke about the decision to declassify more than 5,000 diplomatic files from the first years of the post-December transition and said that he hoped that “this transparency effort” will be made by other institutions, “which rather have internal documents”.
In an intervention on Friday at Digi24, the head of Romanian diplomacy was asked what we will learn, for example, about Mineriade from these documents.
“We are talking about the telegrams from that period, the way the situation in Romania was presented in the international press and the response that Romania gave through its diplomats”, answered Oana Țoiu.
Regarding King Michael's visit to Romania at the beginning of the 90s, she continued, it will also be about “this type of diplomatic correspondence”. According to the minister, the documents will reflect “what was the perception of these gestures of Romania in front of our international partners, what was discussed at the diplomatic level, the way this was illustrated in the press of the time, outside of Romania”.
“Romania had, both after Mineriade and after other episodes, disadvantages that it created through these types of decisions, whether we are talking about access to international financing at the time or the moment when Romania was perceived as a mature democracy, as a free market, a moment that was much delayed compared to the beginning of the 90s and because of these episodes,” explained the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“It is the right of the Romanian people”
Asked if there are public figures who might be afraid of such disclosures, Oana Țoiu said that “it is the right of the Romanian people to have access to information that concerns them” and “we are not talking here about information that may represent a risk related to national security”.
“I don't see why it would be a political topic, I've also seen many of the comments in the online space, but it's the right of the Romanian people to their own history and their own memory. I don't see who would be afraid of the Romanian people, unless at that time they betrayed in some way,” the minister added.
She stated that the development of the normative framework for declassification and the preparation of the next steps “took several months”.
“We believe that it is extremely important for Romania, for society, to be able to look at the lessons of this transition and we hope that this transparency effort is an effort that will be made by other institutions, which tend to have internal documents”, Minister Oana Țoiu also declared.
