Academy president calls out plans to restrict access to archive documents as severe blow to history research

President of the Romanian Academy Ioan-Aurel Pop sent Minister of the Interior Lucian Bode a letter whereby the Bureau of the Academy Presidium calls for access to documents in the National Archives to stay free, emphasizing that access restriction is a "serious blow" to research into national history, Agerpres reports.

"The Bureau of the Romanian Academy's Presidium has learned with concern about the announcement of the National Archives regarding the possibility of restricting access to documents (in their own repositories) from the communist period and even older, with secrecy markings. This is a serious blow to national history research, in total contradiction with the practice of the last decades, with the precedent created by the activity of the Presidential Commission for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Romania and with the recommendations of the European bodies regarding access to archives," the letter of the Academy president reads.

Ioan-Aurel Pop also expresses his concern about the "media reports regarding the destruction of certain public documents at the expiration of the legal classification period, without Archives experts first evaluating their documentary and historical content, as it should be, much to the detriment of the science of history and national identity" and calls for "the removal of the aforementioned restrictions and for the integrity of information relevant to the history of this country to be ensured."

"History-focused institutions (faculties, institutes, centers, etc.) within universities and the Romanian Academy carry out their activity based on archival investigations. Most scholars of recent history are planning works that involve such archival research. We therefore call on the responsible public authorities to intervene as soon as possible in order to lift the aforementioned restrictions and ensure the integrity of the information relevant to the history of this country. The prestigious institution called the National Archives of Romania, the main depository of the national memory and the only regulatory authority in the field of archives, which has been many a time headed by members of the Romanian Academy, must preserve its status and purpose, seek modernization, reinforcement and respect, in accordance with European Union practices," Pop concludes.