Schwarzenberg responds to Sudeten Germans, who expect "considerable breakthrough”

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has addressed a statement from Sudeten Germans, who said at the weekend that they expect "a considerable breakthrough" in relations with the Czech government. In an interview for the German news agency DPA, Mr Schwarzenberg said he wasn’t sure what they expected, but that they may want an official apology for the expulsion of Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia at the close of WWII. The late president Václav Havel expressed regret for the acts in 1990. Mr Schwarzenberg said he was not fond of empty gestures and that real cooperation between Sudeten Germans and Czechs was the most important thing. Decrees issued at the end of WWII allowed about 2.5 million ethnic Germans to be transferred from the country and their property confiscated.