Poland Drops Its Demand on Pre-Unification Border Pact

Poland on Wednesday dropped its demand that the two Germanys guarantee its borders in a treaty before they unite.

“Such a treaty immediately after a declaration of unification of Germany will be a good basis for the development of Polish-German relations,” Polish Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski told reporters in this East German town which has the same name as the West German city.

The East and West German parliaments recognized Poland’s present borders on June 21. Poland later said it wanted this commitment put into a treaty before the two Germanys are united.

The foreign minister spoke at a reception in Frankfurt to celebrate another treaty recognizing Poland’s present western border, along the Oder and Neisse rivers, signed 40 years ago with East Germany’s Communist rulers.

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl upset international opinion earlier this year by his reluctance to give a clear guarantee to Poland that its present borders were irrevocable.

Kohl had said this thorny issue could only be decided by the parliament of a united Germany.

Poland took over large territorial chunks of Hitler’s Third Reich after its defeat in 1945, forcing millions of Germans to settle in West Germany. These people today represent an influential lobby in Kohl’s conservative coalition.

Skubiszewski said: “Poland recognizes that German unification is an integral part of the unification of Europe.”

East German Foreign Minister Markus Meckel said his country will make sure that Poland’s western borders are guaranteed by treaty, but he gave no indication of timing.

“Poland’s western border should become a border of peace,” said Meckel, adding that the Gorlitz Treaty signed 40 years ago had ended an ugly period in German-Polish relations.

Warsaw officials this week took part for the first time in expert-level talks among the two Germanys and the four World War II Allies--the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France--on the strategic status of a united Germany.

The two days of talks in East Berlin, which ended Wednesday, focused on preparations for a resumption of the so-called two-plus-four talks at the foreign minister level in Paris on July 17.