From: "Rich Gauszka" 

I'm siding with Poland 


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23401261-details/We'd+have+more+powe
r+in+EU+if+Germans+hadn't+'reduced+our+population'+in+World+War+II%2C+says+Poli
sh+PM/article.do

Germany's Nazi past has returned to haunt the EU summit.

A vitriolic outburst by Poland's prime minister revealed the Second World
War bitterness that still strains the heart of Europe.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused the Germans of "incomprehensible
crimes" against his country, turning what was already set to be an
acrimonious meeting into a confrontation between historical enemies.

Poland has been fighting plans for the summit - being held in Germany - to
change the EU's voting system to one based on population.

It would increase the influence of the host country, EU's largest with
82million people, at the expense of smaller members such as Poland, which
has only 38million.

Mr Kaczynski stunned other EU leaders by claiming that Poland has 28million
fewer people than it should have as a result of the slaughter inflicted by
Germany between 1939 and 1945.

He breached one of the great taboos of the EU - Don't Mention the War - and
highlighted Poland's tortured relations with Germany. His heated
intervention provoked a furious reaction across the EU and appeared to
revive age-old disputes. It was the German invasion of Poland in September
1939 which triggered the war.

By its end in 1945 some 6.5million Polish civilians were dead - close to a
quarter of the country's population.

Mr Kaczynski said: "It was the Germans who inflicted unimaginable
injury, terrible harm, on Poles - incomprehensible crimes - and Poles like
Germans, while Germans do not like Poles."

"We are only demanding one thing, that we get back what was taken from
us. If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland
would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66million."

Germany wants the summit to agree a treaty that would revive part of the EU
constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

But the Polish premier threatened to block the entire plan unless his
country is compensated for its suffering. He spoke as his twin brother
Lech, who is Poland's president, headed for Germany to join the
negotiations.

There was immediate outrage. Hans-Gert Poettering, the German conservative
who is president of the European Parliament, said he found the Polish
statements 'very painful'.

He said: "Throughout Europe since 1989, there has been a great deal of
goodwill shown, especially to Poland.

"That is why as a German, and as a European, it now hurts me very
deeply to hear such comments." Austrian Chancellor Alfred Merkel
herself avoided responding.

Germany was the biggest supporter of Polish membership of the EU in the
first wave of enlargement after the end of the Cold War.

A spokesman for Tony Blair acknowledged the "sensitivities"
raised by Poland, but said Britain backed the change in voting systems.

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