The Judicial Commission of the Romanian Senate adopted on Wednesday an amendment to law aimed at improving the work of CNSAS, the main body studying the archives of the Securitate, the secret police of the late communist regime, which qualifies top Communist Party decision makers as collaborators of the intelligence service.

Senators of the opposition Social Democratic Party-PSD challenged the amendment, saying it eyed ex-President Ion Iliescu who before the 1989 Revolution serves as first secretary of the Communist Party-PCR at county level.

Ion Iliescu came to power as a result of the 1989 Revolution and led Romania for much of its past 16 years. As a founder of the party, he also led the PSD for much of the time.

The amendment eyes PCR members with decision making powers at central, county and regional levels. It was pushed by Hungarian Democrats-UDMR Senator Gyorgy Frunda and qualifies as Securitate collaborators “ex-PCR members who made intentional decisions at central, county and regional level”.

PSD Senator attacked the move, saying his fellow MPs’ real intention was to corner ex-President Iliescu. But the claim was challenged by a historian studying Romania’s communist past, who pointed out that Iliescu has received a certificate clearing him of collaboration charges anyway.

Also on Wednesday, Senators eliminated the phrase “political police” from the CNSAS law.