PM's reconciliation plan for Sudenten German anti-fascists meets with opposition

The Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek's plan for a reconciliation gesture towards Sudeten Germans who were expelled from the country after WWII despite the fact that they had actively opposed the Nazi regime has run into serious problems. Even before the prime minister had time to specify what kind of conciliatory gesture he had in mind, the opposition parties and president Klaus slammed the idea as "totally irresponsible and potentially dangerous". In addition to that the Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda has now made it clear that his country wants nothing to do with it.

Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek, photo: CTK

The prime minister's attempt to "do the right thing" as he put it, has not gone down at all well. It was rejected by the Sudeten German expellees organization in Austria on the grounds that it would divide the expellees into "good" and "bad", scoffed at or at best given a lukewarm response by the respective German organization Landsmanschaft and it got him into hot water with opposition parties at home who accused the prime minister of opening a Pandora's box that would create serious problems.

If the prime minister had hoped for sympathy and support from his Slovak counterpart Mikulas Dzurinda he was sadly disappointed. The Slovak PM was unusually emphatic in distancing himself from the plan, using the same argument that Mr. Paroubek had already heard from opposition politicians at home: that it was highly unwise to re-open issues connected with the Second World War - on any level. "Slovakia considers these questions closed" Mr. Dzurinda told journalists saying that he had made his stand absolutely and perfectly clear to the Czech prime minister. Although Mr. Paroubek has not yet admitted defeat, this degree of opposition has clearly thrown a damper on his plans. The prime minister is prudent enough to realize that it would not be wise to upset neighbouring states as regards their position on post war expulsions in their own countries. Speaking to journalists about his planned meeting with the Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel in Vienna on Thursday, he attempted to downplay the significance of this topic. "It will not be a prominent issue on our agenda, the time is not yet ripe for it," Mr. Paroubek said.

The response to the prime minister's reconciliation plan has clearly shown how sensitive these WWII issues still are and how difficult it is to take any kind of action relating to them - be it moral or financial.