Statement of the Reconciliation of European Histories group: On the Occasion of the Founding of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience

The Reconciliation of European Histories group in the European Parliament welcomes the establishment of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience as a significant step towards the reconciliation and converging of the European historical narratives. In 2004 when the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, became Member States, the true history of the Iron Curtain still had to be written. Following the enlargement we faced the challenge of including the experience of the post-communist nations into the common narrative of European history. In seven years we have accomplished much to raise the public’s awareness about Europe’s troubled past and the crimes committed by totalitarian regimes. As the December 22nd 2010 Commission Report on the memory of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes and the June 8th 2011 Council Conclusions of the same title show, these years of work have brought this most important topic to the highest reaches of EU governance

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Platform of European Memory and Conscience to be established in Prague on 13-14 October, 2011 as a parallel event of the summit of the Prime ministers

Heads of 19 partner institutions and organisations specialised in the subject of totalitarian history from 13 EU member states will sign the founding document of the Platform of European Memory and Conscience in Prague on 14 October, 2011. The ceremony, which will take place in the presence of Prime minister Petr Nečas and Vice-President of the European Parliament László Tökés, is an accompanying event of the summitof the Prime ministers of the Visegrad group.  

General Court of the EU: The Soviet coat of arms may not be registered as a Community trade mark

On 20 September 2011, the General Court of the European Union has ruled in case Case T‑232/10, Couture Tech Ltd vs. Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), that the Soviet coat of arms may not be registered as a Community trade mark. In this precident it was decided that “its registration as a Community trade mark must be refused even if it is contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality in only one Member State.”

Press Release: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-09/cp110095en.pdf

Judgment: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:62010TJ0232:EN:HTML

Warsaw Declaration on the occasion of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes, 23rd of August 2011

The ministers of Justice of 16 Euroepan Member States and the President of the European Parliament signed the Warsaw Declaration on the occasion of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarian Regimes, 23rd of August 2011. Please find the link to the document here.