Senate throws weight behind restitution bill
By : Juliet D. Golden
The government scored a key victory last week when the Senate threw its support behind the highly controversial draft of the property restitution bill.
The contested bill provides mechanisms for compensating Poles and their families for losses due to illegal expropriation of properties from 1944-1962.
In the weeks ahead, attention will be on President Aleksander Kwasniewski who has the last say over the bill's fate. The final version of the law will most likely land on the president's desk sometime next month. Once there, the president has 21 days to sign or veto the bill.
Despite recent parliamentary successes, restitution activists said last week that they doubt Kwasniewski will ultimately sign the bill into law.
"All signs on heaven and earth are that the president will veto the bill," said Miroslaw Szypowski, chairman of the National Coalition of Revindication Organizations (OPOR).
The vote held late last Friday capped weeks of intense national debate on the property restitution issue.
Opposition leaders from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Peasants Party (PSL) argued that assets set aside to cover restitution claims would best be used to cover budgetary expenditures related to education and health reforms, servicing Poland's foreign debt or upgrading the military as required under NATO agreements.
Kwasniewski echoed similar concerns earlier this month during an interview on public television. "The question is can we afford this," he said.
Under the bill that was voted on last week, former owners will get back 50% of the value of their seized property. When possible, property will be returned in-kind. However, if the property has already been sold or is in private hands, former owners will receive compensation coupons worth the estimated value of their assets. Coupons can be used to buy state-owned real estate or they can be invested in a specially created investment fund.
The Treasury Ministry has estimated that the introduction of the law will cost the state zl. 47 billion ($11.46 billion). However, government officials last week said that failure to pass the restitution law could lead to individual settlements totaling as much as zl. 270 billion ($66 billion).
Prior to the final vote on Friday, the Senate introduced key changes that significantly broaden the number of property owners eligible to receive compensation. Under the law passed by the Sejm earlier this month, in order for property owners or their heirs to be eligible for restitution, they had to be Polish citizens at the time property was confiscated. In addition, they had to be registered as Polish citizens as of Dec. 31, 1999.
However, the senate last week voted to lift the Dec. 31, 1999 citizenship requirement. The move brought cheers from restitution activists.
"That's what we wanted," said Szypowski from OPOR.
The citizenship-restrictive requirements proposed in earlier versions of the bill had been criticized for excluding large numbers of Jews and other Poles now living in diaspora who lost property not only during the communist era, but also under the Nazis during World War II.
Before the bill lands on the president's desk, any amendments introduced by the Senate will have to first be accepted by the Sejm.
During the past decade a comprehensive restitution law has eluded government after government in Poland. The unresolved restitution issue has not only been the topic of heated domestic debates, the lack of a law has earned Poland harsh international criticism.
The filing of a class action suit against Poland in a U.S. federal court in Brooklyn, New York by 11 Jews seeking the return of property in Poland placed the unresolved restitution issue on the country's international agenda. Lawyers representing Poland have argued that the country is protected by sovereign immunity and cannot be tried in a U.S. court. The federal judge presiding over the case is due to rule on whether U.S. jurisdiction will be granted in the case later this year.
With the bill about to be sealed by Parliament, the spotlight and pressure will now be focused on Kwasniewski to take his stand on the issue. Despite signals that the president will most likely veto the bill, early this month he plans to make a careful decision based on the merit and not on political pressure.
"This decision will be one of the most important decisions before me in this second term," Kwasniewski told Polish television earlier this month.
