Top lawmakers from Poland and Germany failed Monday to bridge differences over World War II reparations claims that are straining relations between the two former enemies and new EU neighbors. German Parliament President Wolfgang Thierse emphasized after meeting his Polish counterpart Jozef Oleksy that the Berlin does not back claims by Germans for ancestral property in Poland lost after World War II. But, the German government has said that it can't prevent such claims. «We understood our entry into the EU (to be) a final conclusion of World War II and all its consequences,» Oleksy said. Poland was among 10 countries that joined the European Union on May 1. Tensions with Germany have mounted in recent months over claims by a group calling itself the Prussian Claims Society that plans to take cases to Polish and European courts, seeking restitution for property lost when German borders shifted westward after the Nazi defeat in World War II. --More 2312 Local Time 2012 GMT
