News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Not true. The matter of reparations was not only settled in the agreement between the GDR and Poland (a perfectly valid legal agreement) but also later in the treaties between the FRG and Poland and the 2+4 treaty. Poland has waved his right to reparations multiple times implicitely and explicitely and thus has forfeited any legal claims.


That is not true either. This is not a matter that is settled in Berlin but Bruessels. If you have trouble accepting that legal fact, then there is really no point in discussing the legal status of the reparation issue.


If the other party confirms multiple times that it has no further claims ( in addition to receiving 1/4 of your house) then of course.


You mean aside from publically apologizing, forgiving the crimes comitted to expelled Germans, signing friendship treaties and supporting Poland on its' into the EU and its' evolution into a stable democracy and keep smiling while Polish politicians hurl the worst kind of insults at you? Germany managed to get friendly relationships with all of its' neighbours. But yeah, it is Germany who does not want reconciliation.

If you ask for 1.5 tn in repartion without legal claim for crimes that have been commited 75+ years ago, you are not after reconciliation.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Everything that came before us may or may not have influenced us before. You don't see Germas asking for reparations from Napoleonic occupation or the French for Caesar's conquest of Gaul.


I think I know enough, but past crimes by previous generations do not justify new payments to people who were not directly affected.

Everything is relative in the end. Poles may have been affected by WWII more than others, but nevertheless lived better than other people who suffered historical injustices (like many people in Africa).


Since the grudge is entirely fed and held up by Polish politicians, it is up to them to solve it (by accepting that the matter is settled and telling as much to their voters). Germany only hast to wait. Each passing year makes more and more a mockery of auch demands.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Just pointing out historical facts here. Claiming that Germany never paid for its' crimes is hardly true given all of that happened because of the war.

As for playing the victim. It is silly that people born after WWII claim to be victims deserving of reparations to begin with.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


You mean aside from losing 1/4 of their territory permanently, having millions of people expelled in marches that killed up to a million, having the rest of the country divided and occupied for the next 45 years and paying bns in restitution and reparation.

Disregarding the fact that the matter has been legally settled, asking generations of people to pay 1.5bn for crimea that have been commited years before they were born is just ludicrous. That much should be clear to anyone.

News / Is NORD STREAM dangerous for Poland's natural enviroment? [540]

I doubt that. Operations like this have a tendency to be revealed eventually in democracies. Imagine the PR damage if it turns out that e.g. the UK was behind this ecological disaster. All that risk for little gain?

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


None of that matters in international law. Loathsome as the government may have been, it was the internationally recognises government at the time (there was an Exil government sure, but even the Western governments send ambassadors to Poland).

Not to mentiok that the treaties later signed with the FRG firmly put the issues to rest. Pol


Greece's demands for reparations is also futile. The only "advantage" they have over Poland is that Athens and Berlin did not sign as many treaties later on, which means that they argue that unlike Poland, they never implicitely waived further demands.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Because unlike Poland, the matter with Namibia was never legally settled in form of a treaty.

Namibia can actually argue that it soes have a legal claim for reparations.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


I know how PiS attempts to subjugate the judiaciary while you do not seem to know about the German system, or you would not make auch silly remarks. The German system e.g. requires de facto the government to involve opposition parties in the selection of judges for the Constitutional Court, which means that stacking the Court is impossible.


Literally all the EU is asking for is for Poland not to follow the example of democracies that became autocracies. That ia not "too much" but the bare minimum.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Because our system does not endanger our rule of law or judicial independence. And of course the EU is perfectly entitled to voice its' concern and act in this regard.

Because and just to explain it to you once more: Poland signed treaties when it joined the EU. It accepted thereby the EU Comission as the guardian of those treaties. If it is found in violation of those treaties, the EU acts as it is currently doing.

The only reason why PiS is feeding this Poland vs EU/Germany narrative is because they know of course that their agenda is indefensible otherwise. It is not in Poland's and its' democracies interest to give its' government control over the judiciary to such an extent. Instead anyone for ruly wishes the best for Poland's future must hope that PiS fails with their agenda.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Nonsense. Not only is the EU not Germany, it was PiS that picked up that gauntlet with a completely indefensible agenda that threatens the Polish rule of law. None of this is in Poland's interest. It would solely benefit PiS.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

Nobody in Germany is still talking about those claims. They have been dismissed as obsolete and legally invalid and that is it. Partly because our government understands that needlessy stoking resentment with an ally at a time of war is just stupid.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

There are Wikipedia articles listing politicians from the USA alone who have been convictes for crimes... .

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

A lot of democratically elected parties and politicians turned out to be gangsters or worse.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]

There are no "NATO obligations". Every country can choose how much it spends on defence.

News / Poland to officially demand $1.32 trillion WW2 reparations from Germany [457]


Which is hardly a valid argument, since the entire claim for reparations from Germany is not based on legal arguments (because the matter is legally settled) but supposedly moral ones.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


By an independent, internationally respected institute. Do you have a better source?

Those aid deliveries are public knowledge. The list of supplied arms and other equipment are published. I don't see how the equipment sent from Germamy would count as "symbolical".


Nationalismus has negative conotations like it does in other languages, but its' meaning is not any different and people do not automatically connect it to the Nazis, just as people do not link Social Democrats to Nationalsocialism.


The EU Comissiom is the arbiter to which Poland agreed to when it joined the EU.


That issue has long been settled. Germany owes Poland reparations the same way France owes the former opponents of Napoleon war reparations.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Who said they were like the Nazis? For that they would have to commit a genocide and attack their neighbours. PiS does however behave suspiciously like other governments that turned their countries into autocracies.


Who said it was? It does however cause needless bad blood between two neighbours without any benefit except some points in the polls for PiS. It is incredibly stupid to poison people with senseless resentment.


ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Berlin is not asking for reparations for former German territories or stirring up past resentments.


The ECJ has so far backed Bruessels.


Taking in the 2nd largest group of Ukrainian refugees and being 3rd in overall support counts as "symbolical"?

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


Untrue. When Poland joined the EU, it signed up to common rules including the rule of law. If the ECJ rules against PiS, it has to follow the decision.

This is not about Germany vs Poland but the EU against PiS.

Of course, it is also in Germanys' interest to safeguard its' neighbour and partner against sliding into authoritanism. We already have a huge problem with Hungary that not only has ramifications for its' people, but the EU as a whole.


Sanctions, phasing out its' fossil fuels sooner than is economically sensible, sending huge military and financial aid to its' opponents now counts as support?


As do we.


Personally, I'd be happy if instead of actively paying us back, your government could just let go of long resolved past grievances and drop its' use of anti-German propaganda for domestic reasons.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


No, it is a key issue. It means that a government can stack the judiciary with hardline judges who may even support their ambition to undermine the democracy.

Whereas in Germany the government has to negotiate with the opposition, the jduges are sufficiently vetted and not all judges owe their office and loyalty to a specific party.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]


The government can not appoint judges with a simple majority.

News / Years of Poland in the EU - assessment of pros and cons [1199]

I think we can all agree that there is some difference between some individuals trying to cash in on their political relations and the ruling party trying to get control over the judiciary.

Which is why Germany has rules that prevent what PiS is currently trying. That there is further need to fight corruption (something all countries struggle with) is unrelated to this.

News / Ruling PiS party tried to cover up eco disaster in Odra River [88]

Which river? The Rhine has historically low water due to the ongoing drought, but there is no pollution I am aware of.


Of course not. How would any kind of pollution from the German side magically teleport close to Wroclaw and then make its' way up to the sea?

News / Ruling PiS party tried to cover up eco disaster in Odra River [88]

On the bright side , PiS has accorsing to my knowledge not tried to blame Germany for this disaster. Probably because they can not deny in which direction the rivee is running.

News / Ruling PiS party tried to cover up eco disaster in Odra River [88]

This might become a case for the police if something was illegally dumped into the Oder and öater covered up by the authorities.

UK, Ireland / Boris Johnson - is the new British PM a popular figure in Poland? [150]


The man was sent to a private school whose tuiton fees are from what I've read higher than what your average Brit makes in a year.

Hardly "middle class" origins.

News / Poland's PiS party members and crime [346]


Contracts with the defense industry are not negotiated and signed over night. The defense ministry orders extensive studies from its' military and inquires about their demands and gets usually several different offers from various competitors. This is the time and place to raise any security concerns.

Security concerns are however not a magical formula to get out of a signed contract unless it can be shown that the negotiation were fraudulant or the product does not live up to the demanded standards. Otherwise no private defense company would do buisness with your government because they could not afford this legal insecurity.

News / Poland's PiS party members and crime [346]


Pacta sunt servanda. That is something even the old Romans knew. Those are especially true in industrial matters that require times of preparation for the producer.


Any government in any buisness relationship must obey the law like " a mere client". Unless it can be proven that Airbus bribed officials or there products do no meet promised requirements, then the Polish government has no leg to stand on.

UK, Ireland / Boris Johnson - is the new British PM a popular figure in Poland? [150]

You mean like you destroyed the US when you arrived there.

News / NATO expansion in northern Europe - great news for Poland [137]

Very interesting. Suddenly the Baltic states are in a completely different situation. Russia is now unlikely to achieve quick air or sea superiority in case of an invasion, and they would have to hold back significant forces for the defense of St. Petersburg.