MEP Mularczyk has submitted an amendment to the EU budget, which will be voted on next week during the plenary session in Strasbourg, calling for the creation of a fund to provide financial, medical, and care support to World War II survivors who are still alive today, to strengthen the EU’s efforts regarding historical memory, and to offer redress to victims who have been ignored for decades.
Mularczyk notes that over the past 14 years, Members of the European Parliament have submitted more than twenty parliamentary questions to the European Commission regarding compensation for the victims of German aggression during World War II. These parliamentary questions consistently highlight several recurring themes, including: the victims’ lack of access to pursuing their claims through the courts; the Federal Republic of Germany’s reluctance to engage in dialogue on the matter; the absence of adequate international mechanisms in the face of Germany’s invocation of state immunity clauses; and the European Commission’s unwillingness to address the above issues.
Over the years, successive commissioners have avoided naming the German state directly, replacing the word “Germany” with “Nazis.” In providing evasive responses to ECR MEP Arkadiusz Mularczyk’s questions on this matter, the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, Rule of Law, and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, has taken this even further. The euphemism currently in use is the phrase “totalitarian regimes.” This term erases any remaining historical or geographic references conveyed by the term “Nazis.” MEP Mularczyk notes that in all the Commission’s responses he has examined, the word “Germany” does not appear even once.
"Nevertheless, the most critical issue from the perspective of the victims of German aggression and occupation is the European Commission’s—represented here by Commissioner McGrath—unwillingness to take a stance on the clear injustice toward the victims and their descendants of the greatest war crimes in human history. This is despite Commissioner McGrath’s claim that preserving the memory of the atrocities committed by totalitarian regimes strengthens the European Union’s commitment to respect for democracy and fundamental rights,” said the ECR MEP.
Because of the Commission’s stance—that addressing the atrocities and crimes committed by totalitarian regimes falls within the competence of the Member States, and that it cannot intervene in matters beyond the scope of the Treaties, even though the effects of those atrocities and crimes continue to affect EU citizens today—EU citizens are stuck in a legal and political limbo. "There is no access to the courts or redress, despite the fact that the European Community was built on the ashes of the conflict that caused their suffering, and despite the EU’s transitional justice policy, which favors non-EU victims of conflict over EU citizens who are victims of conflict," said the Polish MEP.
Therefore, MEP Mularczyk has submitted an amendment to the EU budget calling for the creation of a fund to provide financial, medical, and care support for World War II survivors who are still alive today, to strengthen the EU’s efforts regarding historical memory, and to offer redress to victims who have been ignored for decades.
MEP Mularczyk said: “Germany has ignored Polish victims of World War II for too long—simply waiting for the problem to literally die away. The EU cannot, in good conscience, allow this to happen and should do everything it can to offer support.”
