Poland unhappy again over exchange rate used in compensation payments

The Polish-German Reconciliation Fund (FPNP) has complained that an unfavorable exchange rate has again been used when transferring funds for around half a million Polish former Nazi-era forced and slave laborers. "The German fund wants to make a profit on our backs. We will fight this," said Stefan Kozlowski, deputy head of the FPNP, which is responsible for distributing the payments. The Warsaw-based fund received a second tranche worth euro 146 million yesterday but, as with a first payment in June, said the zloty exchange rate used was at considerable variance with market rates. The exchange rate used for both payments was 3.3466 zlotys to the euro, valuing the European currency more highly than it has ever traded on the open market. The rate is also 12% stronger than the current market rate of 3.75, which means reduced pay-outs to elderly Poles who were mostly forced to work for the German war industry or on the land as laborers, for little or no pay. "The exchange rate for this second tranche is also artificially low and unacceptable. It means that Polish victims will get up to 1,000 marks less than they had expected," said head of the FPNP, Bartosz Jalowiecki. Under the compensation plan, financed equally by the German government and businesses, Poland has been earmarked to receive altogether euro 920 million from the euro 5.1 billion fund, making it the biggest single recipient. The FPNP has now threatened to take legal action, after it discovered that the same exchange rate will be used when a third compensation payment is made next month. (Reuters)