Outstanding civil society members and several Liberal leaders appealed to Romanian president Traian Basescu for public debate on national security laws. In yesterday's conference "Who and Why Bugs Our Phones?" there was insistent request for declassification of legislative proposals. In yesterday's debate the president was nailed to wall, accused of "dependence on the secret services", tolerance to the breaking of citizens' rights and more. Attendants criticized the president's attitude pitying the retired from the secret services, as many of them were agents of the ex Communist Secret Service who pursued their interests while active. (...) Although 16 years have now elapsed since the collapse of the communist regime, the Parliament still hasn't got real control on the services born from the ashes of the ex Securitate. Attendants thought this to be serious indeed. Constantin Ticu Dumitrescu, well-known fighter against communism, was seminar conductor yesterday. Here are some of the attendants who protested against making national security projects secret: minister Bogdan Olteanu, Radu Stroe, president of the Commission for Control on SRI (the Romanian Secret Service), George Scutaru and Mihai Calimete, members of Deputies' Commission for Defense, Marius Oprea, president of the Institute to Investigate Communist Crimes and UDMR (the Democrat Union of Hungarians in Romania) deputy Toro Tibor. Apart from the latter, more attendants pleaded for obedience to citizens' rights: Mircea Dinescu, Stelian Tanase, Zoltan Boros, Ionel Nicu Sava, Cazimir Ionescu and Alexandru Popovici. Adelina Palade from SRI was in charge of defence for the secret services. In today's paper you can read a resume of yesterday's seminar, which is to go on.

Ovidiu BANCHES