The Bulgarian Parliament officially endorsed Thursday, during their regularly scheduled meeting, the "Prague Declaration" titled "European Conscience and Communism."

The Parliament's left wing declared that they did not support the document using the argument that there was no other Parliament in Europe that has undertaken such step and that the Bulgarian Parliament has already approved another document condemning the Communist regime.

The Prague Declaration was first adopted during the international conference focused on the "Conscience of Europe and Communism Today," which was held in the beginning of June in the Czech capital Prague.

Former Czech President Vaclav Havel was the keynote speaker at the conference.

"Prague-Europe bears special responsibility for Nazism and communism and their consequences as both totalitarian systems were first established in it. Europe had special responsibility also for man's freedom worldwide," Havel said in June.

Havel also warned against pacifism as a step towards appeasement policy.

"The communist and Nazi regimes had many things in common, including similar ways of manipulation with the public, establishment of special non-military guards, extensive secret police structures, supervision of people, biased judiciary, executions and censorship Under communism, everybody was somehow the system's victim and also one of its creators, Havel stated during the conference.

The conference also focused on the necessity of EU's support for those who fight for freedom in countries like Cuba, Belarus and Burma irrespective of any political and economic interests.

Representatives of the Belarusian exiled government talked about the devastating effects of the Russian communist propaganda. Russian journalists warned against the restoration of communist practices in Russia.

The two-day conference further proposed that August 23 be declared the international day of totalitarian systems' victims.

The Prague declaration full text can be found at: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=97090

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