Brussels, 22 August 2023
Statement by EU Commission Vice-President Jourová and Commissioner Reynders
To commemorate the Europe-Wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes tomorrow, Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, and Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, issued the following statement:
“84 years ago, the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, followed by the start of the Second World War, opened one of the darkest chapters in European history. On this important date for the history of our continent, we honour the countless victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. We reaffirm that their memory is not forgotten, and renew our commitment to do everything in our power to prevent such tragedies from ever being repeated.
In February last year, however, Europe and the whole world watched in horror and disbelief as Putin brought back war, persecution, and illegal occupation to our continent. Russia’s state apparatus distorts history and spreads conspiracies to poison our democracies with malicious disinformation. We will continue our work to promote remembrance and provide facts to dismantle such distortions, wherever we find them.
Today, Ukraine and its people are fighting for peace and democracy. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, for this war is about defending our democracies. Our freedom is not negotiable, and neither is Ukraine’s.
Again, in Europe, lives are lost to war, families torn apart by hate and persecution. But history also can give us hope today. After the second world war, we built a peaceful Europe, a Union of democracies. We built strong democratic institutions in countries which, not that long ago, lived under the suffocating yoke of authoritarianism. We have overcome war and oppression to live as free and equal citizens, in a Union built on peace, democracy, the rule of law, and fundamental rights. We have moved past a history of fear and nationalism to build a common project of peace and union. Let this day be a constant reminder of our responsibility to uphold peace, democracy and all the values on which the European Union was founded.”
Background
The Europe-Wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes has been celebrated since 2009, when the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the “proclamation of 23 August as a Europe-wide Remembrance Day for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to be commemorated with dignity and impartiality”.
It is an occasion to keep alive the memory of the victims, millions of whom continued to suffer long after the end of those regimes.
The European Commission supports projects across Europe which address the history of totalitarian crimes and encourage remembrance. The Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV) supports actions to strengthen the remembrance of the crimes committed by authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. In particular, it supports projects aimed at sharing the memory of these crimes, fostering education among all generations regarding these historical facts, sharing testimonies and countering distortion, denial and trivialisation of the historical facts.
In July 2023, the Commission launched the second call for the European Narrative Observatory to fight Disinformation post-COVID 19. This call will finance a project aiming to identify and analyse the emergence of disinformation and misleading narratives on the war in Ukraine, gender-related issues, and on elections with €1.95 million. The deadline to submit proposals is 22 September 2023.