The National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) will ask for European funding to digitise archives of public interest during a meeting of the European Network of Official Authorities in Charge of the Secret-Police Files, scheduled to take place in Bucharest next week.
CNSAS vice-president Madalin Hodor told AGERPRES that Romania holds the presidency of the network in 2025-2026 and that archive institutions across former totalitarian states face similar funding challenges.
"We hope that, following this meeting, we will issue a joint appeal to the European Parliament so that it becomes aware that, in these institutions, Europe has tools at hand to counter the rise of extremist movements, promote history and combat historical fake news. It would also be useful for the European Union to turn to these institutions and make use of them for this purpose, because they possess expertise and archival resources that can contribute. At the same time, we are seeking European funding to digitise archives. This is extremely important because the public wants the easiest possible access to these documents," Hodor said.
According to him, previous attempts to secure funding through existing programmes have been unsuccessful because archive digitisation often competes with other priorities.
"If a funding line dedicated exclusively to digitisation were created, so that documents could be scanned, put online and accessed much more quickly by anyone, I think it would be a step in the right direction," he said.
The CNSAS vice-president made these remarks in Tulcea, where CNSAS representatives attended a debate launching the exhibition "TULCEA FILE - Tulcea before 1989. Securitate Documents from the CNSAS Archive."
The exhibition, organised jointly by CNSAS and Tulcea City Hall, aims to help recover local historical memory through archival documents and other verifiable sources.
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