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 property which was within the territory of the interbellum Poland (Second Polish Republic) and was abandoned by Polish owners after 1945. it was abandoned when the territory was no longer inside of Poland. The name refers to Bug River because the Bug is a major part of the new eastern boundary of Poland (roughly based on the Curzon Line), separating the so-called Eastern Borderlands from the rest of the former Polish territory. The Bug River property is 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 concerned the evacuation of the population, and did not set out in any detail rules for compensation for owners of abandoned property. The laws of the Communist Poland had a number of provisions concerning the issues related to agricultural land and unmovable property.[1]

In modern Poland, the act of December 12, 2003, by offsetting the value of the property abandoned abroad against sales price or fees for perpetual use is regarded as a base for state compensation to Polish citizens for 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 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 implementation of the right for compensation include:

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

  1. 1 2 3 "Bug River claims" Archived April 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine., Ministry of Treasury of the Republic of Poland (retrieved April 19, 2015)
  2. ↑ Regional Protection of Human Rights, Volume 1, 2013, ISBN 0199941521, p.862
  3. ↑ Case Broniowski v. Poland, HUDOC database
  4. ↑ The Individual in the International Legal System: Continuity and Change in International Law, 2011, ISBN 1139499971, p. 333
  5. 1 2 "Prezydent podpisał ustawę ws. rekompensat za mienie zabużańskie"
  6. ↑ International Law and Domestic Legal Systems: Incorporation, Transformation, and Persuasion, 2011, ISBN 0191029769, Chapter "Poland" by Anna Wyrozumska, p. 479
  7. ↑ "Zwrot Kresów: Czy Ukraina zapłaci wystawione rachunki?"
  8. ↑ "Nic co polskie Polakom na Litwie" ("Nothing Polish to be Returned to Poles in Lithuania"), Kurier Wilenski
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