A panel of legal experts for the Polish Parliament concluded [press release, in Polish]y Monda that Poland is entitled to seek reparations from Germany over any acts committed by the country during the Second World War.

The report[text, PDF, in Polish] relies on various conventions, including the 1907 Hague Convention and the practice of reparations following WWII, to justify its claim.

Polish Prime Minster Beata Szydło [official website] has publicly stated [Radio Poland] that Poland “has the right to seek” reparations but has not committed to country to pursuing the action to this point. This was met in stark contrast to German legal experts who have recently denounced any legal basis for Poland to seek reparations. The issue boils down to the legality of the then 1950 Communists Government in Poland which relinquished all claims to reparations.

The ruling party in Poland has been attempting large shifts to the basic functions of its government over the past months. As recently as July the Polish President Andrzej Duda announced [JURIST report] that he was going to veto two proposed laws that threatened to limit the judiciary’s independence.