Polish slant on EU voting

Osem · 21-06-2007, 12:51

Well apparently the Poles are demanding that EU voting rights reflect the fact that their population isn't as big as it would have been had the Germans not killed so many of them in WWII.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fda8aac0-1f5...b5df10621.html

I feel another EU row coming on!

BBKing · 22-06-2007, 06:47

Nice chaps they've got running Poland, you can see why the sensible ones all come here. There's a nasty xenophobic right-wing mob in charge there at the moment, and besides, picking a fight with the Krauts will never go down badly with the home crowd.

Actually, as anyone with a passing interest in markets would predict, wages in Poland are rising, due to emigration (not just to the UK, of course). This will presumably mean that fewer people have an incentive to leave. Perhaps we can send them the Royal Mail workers.

**Chris** · 22-06-2007, 13:36

Heard some German Eurocrat on the radio last night ... he sounded genuinely hurt by this. I can't say I blame him. It's an absolutely absurd thing for Poland to claim, and something they stand no hope of getting.

Osem · 22-06-2007, 14:33

Well I guess this is the sort of thing the Eurosceptics have been expecting for some time.

Mal · 22-06-2007, 15:22

The thing is, they were not the only country to suffer casualities in WW2. Do we all get adjusted?

Also, where do we stop? WW1? The Napoleonic wars? The Black plague?

**Damien** · 22-06-2007, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

Well I guess this is the sort of thing the Eurosceptics have been expecting for some time.

This is just idiocy. I doubt anyone expected Poland to make such a Bizarre claim. There would not be a EU if there was no war.

BBKing · 22-06-2007, 15:43

Quote:

The thing is, they were not the only country to suffer casualities in WW2. Do we all get adjusted?

Someone on afoe (http://fistfulofeuros.net/) suggested that a trade in virtual deceased population might work - we could buy a few million off the Russians, for instance.

Poland *is* Eurosceptic, of course, being very close to the US right-wing.

Quote:

There would not be a EU if there was no war.

German Guest: Stop talking about the war.
Basil: You started it!
German: No we didn't!
Basil: Yes you did, you invaded Poland.

Osem · 22-06-2007, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damien

This is just idiocy. I doubt anyone expected Poland to make such a Bizarre claim. There would not be a EU if there was no war.

If it's the Polish claim about future EU voting procedures you're referring to, idiocy it could well be but it's not a bizarre claim that the Germans killed millions of Poles in WWII - it's a fact.

Of course nobody would've imagined the Poles might do exactly this but Eurosceptics don't think the EU can work for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are issues such as these.

TheDaddy · 22-06-2007, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osem

If it's the Polish claim you're referring to, idiocy it could well be but it's not a bizarre claim that the Germans killed millions of Poles in WWII - it's a fact.

and it's also true that the Russians invaded Poland twice, each time committing atrocities on a grand scale, seems the Poles have forgotten that and that they were given large tracts of Germany in reparation for the awful acts committed there

Osem · 22-06-2007, 16:15

Well they're just trying to bargain a better deal at the voting table aren't they - they're not interested in precising Polish history. If the Russians were in the EU they'd no doubt be reminding them of those facts for the very same reason.