Kwasniewski rejects restitution bill over concerns of its cost and fairness

President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Thursday vetoed the controversial property restitution bill, citing the proposed legislation's exorbitantly high cost to the state and its exclusion of many former property owners or their heirs who did not have Polish citizenship. As supporters of the bill don't have the required three-fifths majority in the Sejm to overrule the president's veto, hopes of a quick return of property held by some 200,000 Poles have also been dashed. "There won't be any restitution bill. I don't believe in SLD's promises to pass it," said Deputy Treasury Minister Krzysztof ?ukaszewicz. Poland is the only east European country besides Belarus that has yet to ratify a property restitution plan since the fall of communism in 1989. (Rzeczpospolita, pp.A1,A4; Reuters) M.K.