German Parliament again demands end to ,,Benes decrees"

PRAHA/BERLIN Berlin's foreign policy continues to target the end of the so called ,,Benes Decrees". On 20th June the German Parliament strengthened its demand of the Czech republic ,,to repeal the continuing laws and decrees from the years 1945 and 1946". The day before the German Chancellor had declared that ,,ethnic cleansing as such is always wrong". On its website the German Government continues to assert that ,,Restitution and Property questions have not been conclusively settled"with Prague.

The demand of the German Upper House that the Czechs should repeal all ,,expulsion decrees"followed a declaration of the Czech Government referred in connection with the removal of Germans after the war to ,,from today's perspective unacceptable events and deeds". Prague regards this formulation as final and no legal claims by German refugees can arise. The German Government insists on calling the expulsion ,,illegal"so as to build on that formulation restitution and compensation claims.

,,Important information for Czech Voters"

The Prague Foreign Office expressed ,,surprise"at the demand to remove the ,,Benes Decrees". Czech President Vaclav Klaus recalled that the repeated German demand for the annulment of the decrees was on contravention of the German Czech Declaration of 1997 in which Germany committed itself ,,not to burden the Czech Republic with political and legal questions raked up from the past". ,,It would have been important information for Czech voters"said President Klaus had the German Upper House put its demands before the Czech referendum on EU entry.

,,Compensation"

The Deputy Czech Prime Minister Petr Mares has meanwhile suggested the payment of ,,compensation"to the circa 50,000 German speaking minority in the Czech Republic. The Chairman of the Sudeten German Association Bernd Posselt demanded the ,,swift realisation"of this plan and in addition demanded the establishment of a ,,Round Table"between representatives of the Czech Republic and the Sudeten Germans. Some two weeks previously the President of the European Parliament Pat Cox had offered his services as an intermediary for such meetings.

See also earlier articles Sudeten Germans open ,,Embassy"and A blank Czech for the Germans

Sources:
Sudetendeutsche; www.bundesregierung.de
Bundeskanzler Schröder im Interview mit den Zeitungen der Verlagsgruppe Passau am 19. Juni 2003; www.bundesregierung.de
Bundesrat begrüßt erfolgreichen Abschluss der EU-Erweiterungsverhandlungen; Drucksache 300/03 (Beschluss) 20.06.2003
Klaus rejects decree call, says it may breach declaration; CTK 20.06.2003
Posselt: Positiver Schritt Prags wird von Sudetendeutschen begrüßt. Pressemitteilung der Sudetendeutschen Landsmannschaft 20.06.2003
Höhere Renten für Deutsche in Tschechien; taz 21.06.2003


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