Poland has given official form to its reparation demands on Germany at the beginning of October. Foreign Minister Rau signed a diplomatic note addressed to his German counterpart Baerbock. Shortly before a visit by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to Warsaw, Poland’s government has taken another step to lend weight to its reparations demands on Germany. “It expresses the Polish foreign minister’s conviction that the parties should take immediate steps toward a lasting, comprehensive and final legal and material settlement of the consequences of German aggression and occupation from 1939 to 1945”, Rau said. According to a spokesman, the Foreign Office in Berlin would not initially comment on the Polish announcements.
Reparations are a recurring issue The national-conservative PiS government in Warsaw has repeatedly raised in recent years. At the beginning of September, a parliamentary commission in Warsaw presented an expert report that put Poland’s World War II losses at more than 1.3 trillion euros. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski had at the same time renewed the demand for compensation payments. Rau did not name a specific sum. But he made it clear that in Warsaw’s view, a settlement must include, among other things, “the payment of compensation by Germany for the material and immaterial damage caused to the Polish state by this aggression and occupation”. Victims of the German occupiers and their families would also have to be compensated. Likewise, a settlement would have to be found for the looted cultural assets and archives.
Germany invokes two-plus-four treaty
The German government rejects Poland’s demand for reparations. On the one hand, it refers to the Two-plus-Four Treaty of 1990 on the foreign policy consequences of German unification ; on the other hand, Berlin points out that the communist Polish leadership declared its renunciation of German compensation payments in 1953 and confirmed it several times over the years.
If Poland’s head of government believes that the EU is an oligarchy dominated by Brussels, Berlin and Paris, which ignores Poland’s security interests affected by Russia’s war against Ukraine, then one has to wonder. If Poland then wants reparations from Germany, there is a need for discussion. The EU is not an oligarchy, but it seems to be trapped in a no man’s land between economically desired enlargement and necessary but denied deepening and integration. Russia is waging a war against Westerns liberal democratic order, which it seems to feel absurdly threatened by. Europe cannot respond to this in business as usual mode. Mateusz Morawiecki strikes a nerve when he calls on European decision-makers to “have the courage to think in categories appropriate to the times… We need a profound reform that puts the common good and equality back at the forefront of the Union’s principles…” Indeed it will not succeed without a change of perspective : it is the member states, not the EU institutions, that must decide together the direction and priorities of EU action. Any independent decision making by the EU on those topics and in these times will only spark the fire of member states that are becoming more and more reticent to the Union. And that should be avoided ; the Union is only as strong as it is together, hence it’s name. Germany and France alone don’t stand as strong on the international stage without the other member states.
The future of enlarging geographically in the East, and deepening politically depends on Eastern Europeans, so it cannot happen without Poland. Poland, aside of all the controversial democratic principles the country is currently defending, has a central economic, geographical as well as security importance. Here we must make a virtue out of necessity and think about reforms in the Weimar Triangle and act together in what is currently the EU’s most important policy area, security policy. The member states should assume responsibility together and form the core of a European defense community. They should develop de minimis common security policy guidelines that all European countries can follow. Would such a step will lead to the question of “force de frappe européenne” (European hitting force) ? By virtue of the French nuclear sharing force, deliberations on this in the Weimar Triangle states (Germany, France, Poland), the EU and NATO are inevitable.
Is it permissible to raise issues of nuclear deterrence in Europe in the fall of 2022 ? Because Russia no longer rules out the use of nuclear weapons, Europe must address this issue now and take a dual decision : further develop its own nuclear deterrent and, at the same time, initiate a platform for disarmament of tactical nuclear weapons and short- and medium-range missiles in Europe. All of this should be integrated into NATO’s strategic planning framework. Poland, the other Eastern Europeans and soon the Scandinavians will not do otherwise because of their immediate perception of Russian threats. Thus, European defense capabilities simultaneously strengthen vital cohesion in the Atlantic alliance and, in the medium term, disarmament in Europe. This demands trust, and it fosters trust.
On such existential issues, EUs political energy must be directed toward the common future. Considering all this above, Poland demanding reparations is contra productive. According to international and European rules and treaties, all mutual claims have been settled decades ago. The Poles know that, just as the Germans know that German responsibility and German guilt does not end. But there can be no reparation in the literal sense of the word. Every legal dispute must end at some point. In civil law, that is the force of law, including the statute of limitations. In this way – and only in this way – legal order creates peace. Legal peace is what lawyers call it. Justice remains a dream, but law ends disputes and creates peace. Poland should not forget this in its domestic election campaign. Member states belong together in Europe, or as the European Council put it when the Eastern European member states joined the EU : “We are united for our happiness”. And on an equal footing. That is why Poland belongs to the core of European leadership and compromises on the rule of law in Poland should be part of EUs priorities just as European defense is right now. And the European Union is not yet lost.
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
