In 1956, he was, alongside Gheorghiu-Dej, Miron Constantinescu, and Iosif Chișinevschi, one of Romania's delegates to the famous 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, where, to their surprise, Nikita Khrushchev condemned Joseph Stalin and announced a path to De-Stalinization. As a consequence of this move, Gheorghiu-Dej made a claim to have De-Stalinized the PCR years before Khrushchev, and linked Stalinism exclusively to the fallen Pauker-Luca faction: Petre Borilă played a significant part in this process, rallying with the Romanian leader as the latter purged the PMR of members who advocated increased liberalization. Later in the same year, together with Gheorghiu-Dej, Vincze, Constantin Pîrvulescu, and Alexandru Moghioroș, he engaged in talks with Pauker, who was by then released from detention and placed under close Securitate surveillance — they attempted to have her confess to political crimes, but she defiantly continued to deny the bulk of the charges.