Polish parties raise issue of German land claims
WARSZAWA One of the most sensitive issues in the Polish debate on the EU is the issue of Germans buying up Polish land. Three conservative movements have signed an appeal to the president and the prime minister, asking them to state publicly what their position is on the property restitution claims which have been filed by Germans for land in Western and Northern Poland (the parts which used to be Germany).
According to Jan Olszewski, the leader of the Reconstruction of Poland movement, some 600,000 German former property owners have filed property restitution claims against Poland. He warned against Poland joining the EU without a guarantee that these claims would be settled in Polish courts. The fear is that jurisdiction over such claims may pass to the institutions of the EU, in particular to the European Court of Justice and/or the European Court of Human Rights.
See also earlier article ,,Annexation of Poland"
Source:
European Foundation Intelligence Digest No. 166, 1/5/2003