Poland wants to claim 1.3 trillion euros as reparations for World War damage from Germany. Foreign Minister Baerbock rejects the demand: This question had already been "legally clarified" when the EU was being set up. However, Poland does not want to let that sit on itself.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has rejected Poland's demand for German reparations worth billions for damage suffered in World War II. The issue of reparations is "closed" for Germany, said Baerbock at a joint press conference with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Warsaw.
Baerbock thus confirmed Germany's official position, which had been in force for many years, that there was no legal basis for claims for reparations from Poland. Nevertheless, Poland is aiming for early negotiations with Germany on reparations. A corresponding diplomatic note is on the way to Berlin, it said.
Baerbock countered that Germany stood by its historical responsibility "without ifs or buts". There could be "no final stroke". However, legal foundations were created during the construction of the European Union, "that's why this question has been legally clarified for us," the Foreign Minister reiterated the German refusal to pay reparations.
On the 83rd anniversary of the start of the Second World War on September 1st, a parliamentary commission in Warsaw presented a report in which the damage caused by World War II in Poland was estimated at more than 1.3 trillion euros. Shortly before Baerbock's visit, Poland's PiS government had reiterated its demands for reparations from Germany: Foreign Minister Rau signed a corresponding diplomatic note that is to be handed over to Berlin. PiS boss Jaroslaw Kaczynski also accused the federal government of striving for "German hegemony" in the EU.
The evening before, Baerbock had honored Poland's services to German reunification in Warsaw. At the same time, she assured Poland and all of Central and Eastern Europe of their support in the face of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. After the meeting with Rau, Baerbock wanted to take part in a discussion at the Warsaw Security Forum on the situation in Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine and its consequences.
