Bug River property

Bug River property lies to the east of the Curzon Line-based part of the modern Polish border

The Bug River property (Polish: Mienie zabużańskie, "Trans-Bug property") is a property which was within the territory of the interbellum Poland (Second Polish Republic) and was abandoned by Polish owners because after 1945 it became outside of Poland. The name refers to Bug River because it is a major part of the new eastern boundary of Poland (roughly based on the Curzon Line) separating the so-called Eastern Borderlands from it. Bug River property in located within the states of Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. ^[1] The claims for compensation for this lost property are known as the Bug River claims.

The agreements between the USSR and the interim Polish government (Government of National Unity) mostly regarded the evacuation of the population, but did not detail any rules for compensation for the abandoned property. The laws of the Communist Poland had a number of acts to handle the issues related to agricultural land and unmovable property.^[1]

In modern Poland the act of December 12, 2003 on offsetting the value of the property abandoned abroad against sales price or fees for perpetual use is a base for the state compensating to Polish citizens the value of the abandoned property. As of February 29, 2003, 82,000 applications for compensation were submitted with total estimate value over 10,500 million PLN. ^[1]

Due to an unsatisfactory handling of the issue, it was raised before the Constitutional Tribunal (2002 proceedings ^[2]).

In 2004 the issue was considered by the European Court for Human Rights (pilot case: Broniowski v. Poland^[3]). The Court found

"...a systemic problem connected with the malfunctioning of domestic legislation and practice caused by the failure to set up an effective mechanism to implement the “right to credit” of Bug River claimants <...>, with the consequence that not only the applicant in this particular case but also a whole class of individuals had been or were still denied the peaceful enjoyment of their possessions."

The Court noted that the issue was not satisfactorily resolved for some 80,000 claims.^[4]

Further decrees on the implimentation of the right for compensation include:

• Decree of July 8 2005 "O realizacji prawa do rekompensaty z tytułu pozostawienia nieruchomości poza obecnymi granicami Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej" (Dz. U. z 2005r. Nr 169 poz. 1418).
• Decree of September 8 2006 "O zmianie ustawy o realizacji prawa do rekompensaty z tytułu pozostawienia nieruchomości poza obecnymi granicami Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz niektórych innych ustaw" (Dz. U. 2006r.Nr 195 poz. 1437).

In February 2014 President Bronisław Komorowski signed a decree to further update the regulations related to compensation for Bur River property. In particular, it removed a number of restrictions to the right for the compensation. ^[5] In doing so, it addressed the issues raised before the Constitutional Tribunal the and ECHR on the subject.^[5][6]

Recently, due to the aspirations of Ukraine to join the European Union, Polish society raised an issue whether Ukraine will be willing to share the burden of the compensation.^[7] Reportedly, Lithuania has been very reluctantly handling the claims of Poles for compensation/restitution.^[8]

References