Issue of German reparations to Poland ‘closed,’ says Polish FM

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Thursday said that the issue of receiving any reparations from Germany for damages sustained by Poland during World War II has been closed. “Germany admits that it owes a moral debt to Poland. We strive to ensure that this feeling of guilt finds material expression. Since (opposition and previously ruling party Law and Justice) PiS did not solve anything for eight years, we think that now we need to let Germany figure out how to restore moral order, restore Poles’ feeling that the Germans are sorry and want to do something about it,” Sikorski told public television TVP Info. The PiS government had demanded $1.3 trillion in reparations. Sikorski said that Poland had “already received reparations in the Potsdam treaty at the end of World War II.” “We have ended this unnecessary cold war with European institutions, with Germany, because of which we cannot spend money from the National Reconstruction Plan like other countries,” Sikorski said, when asked about the reactivation of the Weimar Triangle format. He emphasized that “Poland needs money from the National Recovery Plan (KPO) to complete our modernization, which has already been dramatically delayed.” Last week, Sikorski gave an interview...