A Cold War card index is Romania’s best hope

Bucharest

In 1950s Romania, as Stalinist terror descended, a mania evolved for hunting down ‘foreign spies’. Early victims included former staff at the British military mission in Bucharest, some of whom were shot for their services between 1944 and 1947. Even doormen at the mission, or secretaries, were sentenced to hard labour. As the terror spread, to have frequented the British Council library in Bucharest was enough to bring charges of ‘espionage’. A minimum sentence might involve two years’ canal-digging near the Black Sea. Half a century on, Romania is set to join the European Union. Stalinist evil is supposed to be long gone, replaced by the improving banalities of life in the modern EU. Romania has not quite made the grade yet, however: on Tuesday Brussels warned that her entry could be delayed.

The Securitate secret police was disbanded 16 years ago. Senior officers at its successor body, the ‘Romanian Intelligence Service’ — or SRI in the local acronym — say that fewer than 10 per cent of their current staff are ex-Securitate.