MEPs move to smooth ‘Benes decrees’ row

Date: 23/05/02

By David Cronin

MEPS sought this week to deflate a growing row over whether the Czech Republic can join the EU without rescinding controversial 1940s' laws which resulted in the expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans and Hungarians.

The republic is one of ten countries due to join the Union in 2004, but a recent draft report by the European Parliament indicated that could be in doubt unless decrees issued by President Eduard Benes after the Second World War were revoked.

However, the report's author, German Christian Democrat Jürgen Schröder, said on Tuesday he would 'do everything' to ensure the dispute over the decrees does not escalate. The Parliament's foreign affairs committee yesterday (22 May) agreed to alter his report to take note of last month's declaration by Prague that the laws would not be applied in future.

Schröder said his sole intention was to ascertain if anything in current Czech legislation was discriminatory and contrary to EU principles.

The Parliament's legal service recently completed a study on the decrees, which it is declining to publish. The assembly's bureau has also asked former MEP Christopher Prout to prepare an independent report on the issue, due to be finished before the next plenary session on 10 June.

If, as a result of these analyses, Parliament calls on Milos Zeman's government to revoke the decrees, Schröder believes it should do so. 'We expect no less from the Czech Republic,' he added.

The decrees have roused passions in the Hungarian and German election campaigns. Edmund Stoiber, the centre-right candidate for the German chancellorship, last weekend dubbed them 'intolerable'.

The European Commission has repeatedly tried to prevent the controversy over the decrees marring the enlargement process.

'This is not an issue relevant to the accession negotiations,' said Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori.

MEPs are seeking to deflate a growing row over whether the Czech Republic can join the EU without rescinding controversial 1940s laws which resulted in the expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans and Hungarians.