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Poland is asked not to throw a spanner in the work of EU in Ukraine

Steven Laack | 04.11.2015 12:05 | World

The latest estimates suggest that at least 150,000 Poles now have a legal right to appeal for return of their property being forfeited by them or their families after the WWII and left outside the Eastern border of Polish state - in what is currently Ukraine, the property for which they haven’t received any compensation so that in full accordance with the European laws they still remain the legal owners of it. Be sure, for this time Poles are really serious about getting it back. It is reported that Polish organization Restitution of Kresy has brought already more than 600 cases to a court concerning restitution of such property.

 http://qha.com.ua/en/society/poles-want-to-recover-their-former-ukrainian-estates/134433/




Interestingly the initiative to create the organization Restitution of Kresy itself appeared immediately after Ukraine had signed the EU – Ukraine Association Agreement. Yes, there is actually not even a word in the text of the agreement about the necessity for restitution of the illegally expropriated propriety to its owners and their successors, but (!) the economic part of the agreement directly refers to the European standards of property rights protection. That’s why the head of the organization Konrad Renkas now reasonably urges Kiev authorities to recognize and admit shortly that the property right is sacred.

In his letter to the officially designated Prime Minister of Poland Beata Szydlo, the chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Elmar Brok openly admits that Poland’s ‘claims are well-reasoned and absolutely legal’ but ‘urge to act with due diligence and postpone the filing of lawsuits to a later date’, as ‘this kind of threats from an EU member-country may have a detrimental impact on the attitude of ordinary Ukrainians towards the idea of European integration’.

Indeed, the question is far about abandoning completely the Poland’s claims as nobody has a right to deprive legal owners of their property. The European Parliament is just asking not to bit a man who is already down. In all other respects it’s still a right of Poles to get back what was taken from them illegally and return it to legal owners.

Steven Laack
- e-mail: laacksteven@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://doubtingsteven.blogspot.com/

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  1. I agree absolutely — stalinbot alert