Actually, the Federal government does not want to make reparations payments due to the Second world war more. A new Federal report questioned this Position – the potential joy of Greece and Poland.
German soldiers in front of the Acropolis in Athens in may 1041
80 years after the outbreak of the Second world war, the question of reparation claims for war could be damage again for political discussions. This time the throw-in comes not from Athens or Warsaw, but directly from Berlin. The Scientific service of the Bundestag, presented in the order of the Left a new progress report with the title “Greek and Polish demands for reparations against Germany”. It is visible that the experts keep in addition to the Position of the Federal government, other views on the topic is acceptable.
The new report to “no legal value”, – stated in the 15-page document. It should help, “to systematize the legal lines of Reasoning” as well as to compare the “similarities and differences”, in relation to reparation claims in the respective bilateral relationships.
Fundamental differences remain
The report recalls that the Federal government rejects the claims of Greece, and Poland. The question of reparations is legally “and politically, and finally resolved”. So clearly it does not see the Bundestag, the experts in all points. At least in regard to Greece, the reasoning of the Federal government in public international law is acceptable, but not necessarily – the conclusion of the opinion.
Aufgebahrte dead heads in the Greek village of Distomo remember the victims of a 1944 Nazi-perpetrated massacre
Unlike Poland, Greece have made “never an explicit Declaration of renunciation” – the document says. To the argument of the Federal government, according to which the “Two-plus-four Treaty” of 1990 with all questions of Reparation “finally and fully” regulated, writes the Scientific service: the reparations were not mentioned in the Treaty at all. And even if it were so, it would have Greece as a third country that has not contributed to the contract must, with resulting disadvantages to agree, argue the experts.
Limitation of payment of claims?
In the document of the Scientific service of the Bundestag is also asked to rate how it legally is that “70 years after the end of the war, and almost 30 years after the conclusion of the Two-plus-Four-agreement, none of the two countries’ demands for reparations in a formal international legal proceedings has made?” It is also a question of whether one could assume that this is a limitation, as the government argues. The conclusion: “The limitation of state-to-state payment of claims is not regulated by international law today.”
The report also mentions the “possibility of a final judicial clarification” before the International court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague. If it ever comes to a lawsuit, is unclear. The Federal government, the ICJ would have to submit to Jurisdiction voluntarily, which she refuses but. Recently, the Minister of state said in June at the Federal foreign office Niels Annen of the SPD, that a referral to the ICJ was intended with the question of the Greek reparation claims of no side.
Receivables from Greece
The opinion of the experts of the Bundestag should find in Athens and Warsaw for attention. In June, the Greek Ambassador handed over in Berlin on a “verbal note” to the German government to asked in this officially negotiations on reparations is. In Athens the war, estimated damage caused by the German occupation in the Second world war, to EUR 290 billion.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Athens in January 2019, the tomb of the Unknown soldier
If the issue remains after the exchange of the Greek government on the Agenda, is questionable. As leader of the opposition, underlined Kyriakos Mitsotakis in April of this year in the Greek Parliament, the moral significance of the topic. To ask for reparations, he evaluated but as a “politically and legally difficult”. Only in relation to the return of the so-called Forced loans of the now newly elected Prime Minister expressed confidence. It is estimated that it could go to eight to eleven billion euros.
Poland is preparing
Poland’s government is keeping up to date with the official claims. This could change. “There is a strong political will to work on the issue continuously,” says the PiS MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk. He is the Chairman of the Sejm Commission calculated the damages of war and a corresponding line of reasoning prepared. So far, the talk is of around 800 billion euros. By the Nazi Regime, six million poles lost almost life. If and when the issue would be taken up by the government, was “a political decision that must be made at an appropriate time”. In the autumn, will be elected in Poland in the new Parliament.
Already the subject of an earlier headline of Bild am Sonntag: to The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, Germany in the duty
The German experts confirmed that in their view, the Polish claims are not justified, as Poland twice, in 1953 and 1970, renounced reparations. Warsaw thinks it’s ineffective because of the waiver of pressure from Moscow. Under international law, the reasoning of the German government was right, however, the report shows.
This attitude is also the Chairman of the German-Polish parliamentary group in the Bundestag Thomas North (Left) shares. “You may be so in Poland does not agree, but there were legal agreements that have regulated these issues for a long time”, said the North of the DW. “Morally, it should make no difference. When it comes to individual groups of victims, there may be more compensation,” added the Left-politician.