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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 4 OcTOber 2022
Poland demands $1.3 trillion in war damages from Germany

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA tensive report on the dam-
Associated Press ages, estimating it at the
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — $1.3 trillion figure.
Poland’s foreign minister on Poland’s government re-
Monday signed an official jects a 1953 declaration by
note to Germany request- the country’s then commu-
ing the payment of about nist leaders, under pressure
$1.3 trillion in reparations for from the Soviet Union, that
the damage incurred by Poland wouldn’t make any
occupying Nazi Germans further claims on Germany.
during World War II. Germany argues compen-
Zbigniew Rau said the note sation was paid to Eastern
will be handed to Germa- Bloc nations in the years af-
ny’s Foreign Ministry. The ter the war, while territories
signing comes on the eve that Poland lost in the east
of Rau’s meeting in Warsaw as borders were redrawn
with German Foreign Min- were compensated with
ister Annalena Baerbock, some of Germany’s prewar
who will attend a security lands. Berlin calls the matter
conference. closed. It was Moscow that
Rau said the note expresses decided Poland would re-
his view that the two sides ceive only a small fraction
should take action “with- of the compensation.
out delay” to address the Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks during a high level Security Council In the 1990s Germany paid
effects of Germany’s 1939- meeting on the situation in Ukraine, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at United Nations headquarters. one-time compensation
Associated Press
45 occupation in a “last- to former inmates of Nazi
ing and complex, legally Warsaw says that pay- have a “responsibility to not be a line drawn here,” concentration camps and
binding as well as material ment of reparations would preserve the trust we have Baerbock said. to victims of forced labor,
way.” He said that would in- strengthen bilateral rela- built together over the past Poland’s right-wing govern- including many Poles.
clude German reparations tions through truth and jus- 30 years.” ment argues that the coun- Despite good bilateral rela-
as well as solving the issue tice and would close pain- Baerbock stressed that try hasn’t been fully com- tions, Poland’s most power-
of looted artworks, archives ful chapters from the past. “this includes that coming pensated by neighboring ful politician, Jaroslaw Kac-
and bank deposits. He said Germany says the matter to terms with and remem- Germany, which is now zynski, has recently made
Berlin should make efforts was closed decades ago. bering the immeasurable one of its major partners increasingly hostile remarks
to inform German society Baerbock said in Berlin be- suffering that Germany within the European Union. about Germany, recalling
about the “true” picture of fore departing for Poland brought upon the people On the war’s 83rd anniver- its wartime guilt and alleg-
the war and its disastrous that the two European of Poland.” sary, Sept. 1, Poland’s gov- ing that it is dominating the
effects on Poland. neighbors and partners “There cannot and will ernment presented an ex- European Union. q

E.U., Israel hold high-level talks for first time in a decade

By LORNE COOK “It’s better to sit and dis- a planned 2013 meeting
Associated Press cuss frankly, than to avoid over the EU’s policy toward
BRUSSELS (AP) — The Euro- any contact. Certainly we Israeli settlements. Some EU
pean Union and Israel on disagree. Certainly we ex- countries have also been
Monday held high-level press concern, but I think reluctant to meet since
talks for the first time in a it’s more positive to sit and then. Lapid welcomed the
decade, with the Europe- discuss,” Borrell told report- meeting.
ans pressing Israeli Prime ers in Brussels. “It is an important mile-
Minister Yair Lapid about In his opening remarks at stone in our improving re-
how to put a two-state so- the meeting led in Brussels lations. This past year has
lution to the conflict with by Israeli Intelligence Minis- seen some vast progress in
the Palestinians into place. ter Elazar Stern Borrell un- our ties and there is still so
EU foreign policy chief Jo- derlined the EU’s concern much more that we can
sep Borrell welcomed the “about the continued ten- do,” he said, according to

recent support from Lapid sions and violence on the the speech released by his
who took part in Monday’s ground and the continua- office.
talks by videoconference tion of unilateral measures, However, there is no short- European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, right, greets

for an end to the conflict such as settlement expan- term prospect for peace. Israel’s Minister of Intelligence Elazar Stern prior to a meeting of
the EU-Israel Association Council at the EU Council building in
based on an Israeli and Pal- sion, and the security is- Israel’s military occupation Brussels on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022.
estinian state living peace- sues.” of the West Bank is now in Associated Press
fully side by side. It’s the first time the two its 55th year. The last real
“This is also what we want sides have held an “As- peace talks ended in 2009, the Gaza Strip, controlled ister Benjamin Netanyahu.
to push for. We want the sociation Council” since and critics say growing Is- by the Palestinian militant Opinion polls indicate that
resumption of a political July 2012. Israel and the raeli settlements in the West group Hamas, for a future even if Lapid is able to form
process that can lead to EU signed an Association Bank and elsewhere under- state. a new government, the
a two-state solution and a Agreement governing their mine any hopes for a two- Lapid is serving as care- next parliament, like the
comprehensive regional ties in 1995, and the pact state solution. The Pales- taker prime minister until a current one, will be domi-
peace,” Borrell said. “We entered force in 2000. Talks tinians seek all of the West Nov. 1 election, in which nated by hard-line parties
have to explore how we were meant to be held an- Bank along with Israeli-an- he is facing a tough race that oppose Palestinian
can put this into practice.” nually, but Israel canceled nexed east Jerusalem and against former Prime Min- statehood.q