President Iohannis to postpone ceremony for declaring 2019 The Year of Paying Homage to Victims of Communism

President Klaus Iohannis decided to postpone the solemn ceremony where he was supposed to declare 2019 as "The Year of Paying Homage to the Victims of Communism", 30 years after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

"In the past couple of days, I saw there were certain speculations regarding the opportunity of the organisation on May 20, at the Cotroceni Palace, of a solemn ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989, where the year 2019 was to be declared "The Year of Paying Homage to the Victims of Communism." In order to eliminate any suspicion with respect to the association of the Romanian Revolution with the electoral period we are crossing right now and out of deep respect for all those who fought for democracy and our freedom during the tyrannic years of communism, President Klaus Iohannis decided to postpone the event to an ulterior date," informs the Presidential Administration.

Ever since taking over as President, Iohannis has constantly participated in the actions of condemnation of the crimes and abuses of the repressive apparatus of the communist regime, also paying homage to the victims of totalitarianism.

"President Klaus Iohannis believes that the lessons of the past cannot be ignored and that taking responsibility for the horrors of communism in Romania must be for all of us a permanent civic exercise," the Presidential Administration also showed in the release.

The Presidential Administration on Tuesday announced that the head of the state will declare 2019 as "The Year of Paying Homage to the Victims of Communism" during a public ceremony that will take place at the Cotroceni Palace, in the context of the 30th anniversary of the Romanian Revolution of December 1989.

President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday explained why he chose the date of May 20 for this event.

"Next week I will declare the year 2019 as the Year of Gratitude, the year in which I want to show my gratitude for those who made possible the great change in December 1989, and some people who like to comment more said to me: but why are you starting in May then? I want to declare the year 2019 the Year of Gratitude, which will end in December with a great celebration of the Revolution of December 1989 and I will start from the moment of the first democratic vote in Romania. The first free elections in Romania took place on May 20, 1990. That's why I chose May," explained the head of the state, on the launch of his third volume "EU.RO - Europe, An Open Dialogue," which took place in Ploiesti.