Polish FM floats new reparations solution

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Poland will drop the USD 1.3tn (EUR 12.08) reparation demand made by the right-wing nationalist PiS government, which Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centre-left coalition toppled late last year.

The country will instead seek compensation in areas such as mutual defence and revamping historic buildings, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said, adding that “the legal position is that reparations cannot be obtained”.

Poland’s government renounced all claims to war reparations in the 1950s, albeit under pressure from the Kremlin, which PiS said invalidated the agreement. Sikorski nevertheless said Poland should try to get some kind of compensation from Germany for its WWII Nazi occupation of Poland.

“We are asking the German government to prepare a package to convince our public opinion and show them that Germany is ready to deal with the matter”, Sikorski said.

He suggested the rebuilding of the Saxon Palace on Warsaw’s largest square, Pilsudski Square, funding medical care for war survivors or joint investments in defence capabilities as possible avenues for Poland to achieve closure on the matter.