One past, two assemblies: The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the interpretation of history (2004-2009)

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the EU's enlargement (2004), issues related to the interpretation of European history have increasingly come up for debate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament. World War II, the Holocaust, the fight against Soviet domination in central Europe and the crimes of Communism have been recurrent themes in a conflict of symbols that sets at odds European nation-states with different historical heritages (West/East) and political lineups (right/left). Although more than half of the member states of the Council of Europe also belong to th'e EU and share much the same history during the 20th century, we are forced to admit that the debates and the the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly are quite different. This difference can largely be set down to the "logics of operation and socialization" in these two assemblies.