By Hou Pengfei

Recently, Poland overwhelmingly passed a resolution in the lower house of parliament to claim up to 1.3 trillion euros in reparations from Germany to make up for its losses caused during the Nazi invasion of Poland in World War II. In this regard, the German government said that the political and legal channels for claiming reparations from Germany have long been closed.

Poland raises amount claimed for war-caused losses

The issue of reparations from Germany has been a long-standing problem. Since coming to power in 2015, the Polish Law and Justice Party has repeatedly claimed reparations from Germany for the losses caused by the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. According to reports, many cities of Poland, including Warsaw, were razed to the ground during World War II, with a total of 6 million Poles losing their lives. This history has thus become an important part of Poland's national memory. Although West German Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt down at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument in 1970, it was far from enough for the populist Polish Law and Justice Party.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki posted an article on social media, reading that the reparation claimed from Germany is not only a liquidation of the past but more importantly, to compensate for the future development of Poland damaged. This time, the Polish government has filed claims through formal channels, and meanwhile significantly increased the amount of claim, from 869 billion euros in 2019 to 1.3 trillion euros, equivalent to nearly 37% of Germany’s GDP in 2021. According to foreign media quoted Jarosław Kaczynski, chairman of the Law and Justice Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland as saying that the newly announced reparation was calculated in the "most restrained and conservative" way, and the possibility to continue to increase does exist in the future.

Unlike the reparations proposed by Poland, Germany's wording was very cautious. According to foreign media reports, in order to prevent similar incidents from setting a legal precedent, Germany has already called the 1.1 billion euros in reparations to Namibia in 2021 as healing funds rather than compensation for its colonial-era genocide from 1904 to 1908.

Poland-Germany rift accelerates splitting of EU

Analysts believed that Poland's claim for reparations from Germany reflects the growing differences within the European Union (EU). Germany is the biggest contributor to EU funds, while Poland is the biggest beneficiary. The Associated Press pointed out citing EU data, that Poland received a total of 110.14 billion euros from the EU between 2014 and 2020. In this context, Germany naturally has more say in the EU. Given its weak economic foundation, Poland has a certain gap in economic development level with developed countries in Western Europe such as Germany. Poland, on the one hand, lies in a marginal position in the EU, and on the other hand, it is difficult for Poland to get responses from the EU regarding its different opinions on some EU policies.

On this account, the Poland-EU grievances have been deepening. In recent years, Western European countries' accusations of domestic judicial reform in Poland have triggered dissatisfaction among the ruling Law and Justice Party. The difference lies in the EU viewed Poland's judicial reform measures as undermining the "roots of the democratic system", resulting in the administration's interference in and control of the judiciary, while Poland believed that judicial reform is for the purpose of cracking down on corruption and raising the issue to the height of sovereign affairs. In early September, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a keynote speech held in the Czech Republic that Germany would take a firmer attitude towards Poland, emphasizing its intention to tie Poland's actions to EU funding. This time Poland formally announced reparations from Germany, which, in addition to its appeal to history, is also retaliation against Germany.

Report has said Poland originally returned to Europe in pursuit of political independence and economic prosperity. Previously, due to Poland's unwillingness to join the eurozone, Poland has avoided the negative impact of the austerity adopted by the EU on the economy to a certain extent. In addition, the EU's accusations of Poland's judicial reform have made Poland's political independence boundaries continue to blur, leading to spreading sensations of "doubting the EU". In the vote for this claim, many pro-EU political parties voted in favor. Currently, Poland is strengthening its cooperation with Austria, Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries, "Eurosceptics".

Poland-Germany conflict spreads to NATO Since most of the EU member states are also members of NATO, the high homogeneity of the two organizations will inevitably transmit differences originating from within the EU to NATO. With the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the conflict between Germany and Poland has become more acute under the NATO framework. With the continuous expansion of Polish armored armament and the escalation of the US-Russia confrontation, Poland's status in NATO has continued to rise. Recently, Poland has been proactively involved in regional conflicts and criticized Germany's performance as "disappointing". Compared with Poland's marginal status within the EU, its rising status within NATO has made Poland's identity as a middle power stronger and its attitude towards Germany tougher. Meanwhile, Poland is ambivalent about Germany's role to play in NATO. On the one hand, Poland accuses Germany of insufficient involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict; on the other hand, it is highly vigilant about Germany's development of military capabilities. Recently, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the German army must become the best equipped in Europe, which has aroused great high concern in Poland. Analysts believed that with the intensification of the conflict between Germany and Poland, the open and covert struggles within NATO are likely to get further escalated between the New Europe represented by Poland and the Old Europe represented by Germany and France.

(The author is a lecturer at the School of Politics and Public Administration, Xinjiang University)