In Europe, the European People's Party (EPP) was alone in denouncing communism, its secretary-general, Antonio López-Istúriz, declared in Brussels yesterday (18 March)."We combated communism. We denounced the big lie of communism," López-Istúriz said at a conference organised by the Centre for European Studies, the EPP-affiliated think-tank. "The EPP was alone in this fight. Other parties were blind," he claimed. The statement was not challenged by the audience, despite the fact that socialist François Mitterrand, French president in the 1980s, was an important player in many of the dramatic events that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, alongside German Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the centre-right CDU party. Mitterrand famously organised a breakfast with Bulgarian dissidents at the French Embassy in Sofia on 19 January 1989, which hugely accelerated events leading to the collapse of the communist regime in that country on 10 November that same year.
"We combated communism. We denounced the big lie of communism," López-Istúriz said at a conference organised by the Centre for European Studies, the EPP-affiliated think-tank.
"The EPP was alone in this fight. Other parties were blind," he claimed.
The statement was not challenged by the audience, despite the fact that socialist François Mitterrand, French president in the 1980s, was an important player in many of the dramatic events that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall, alongside German Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the centre-right CDU party.
Mitterrand famously organised a breakfast with Bulgarian dissidents at the French Embassy in Sofia on 19 January 1989, which hugely accelerated events leading to the collapse of the communist regime in that country on 10 November that same year.
