Chosen territories
Liberec region
- Kunratice 43,4 ha
- Horní Řasnice 13,7 ha
- Bulovka 32,2 ha
- Heřmanice 3,7 ha
Hradec Králové region
- Královec 13,4 ha
- Česká Černá 2,6 ha
Olomouc region
- Bílá Voda 1,2 ha
Moravian-Silesian region
- Píšt 9,3 ha
- Třebom 5,2 ha
- Krnov 7,2 ha
Liberec - Soon, the Czech Republic's border with Poland will undergo a number of changes.
This comes as part of a plan to settle an unresolved conflict between Czechoslovakia and Poland over the Tešín region. A treaty was signed in 1958 changing the border in that specific north Moravian region. But a dispute over lost land is still going on, half a century after the treaty came into effect.
After the original territorial dispute had been solved, new tension emerged as Poland learned that the agreement was unjust, favoring Czechoslovak territorial claims.
Poland lost 368 hectares and now it wants them back.
All border regions involved
State officials are asking ten borderland municipalities to give up part of their territories. In spite of the state trying to conceal what municipalities are involved, Aktuálně.cz managed to obtain the list of potential territories that would so far fulfill less than half of the 368 hectares deal.
Most of the affected municipalities disapprove.
Read more: Liberec region refuses to cede land to Poland
Those that express no dissent, for example Heřmanice or Krnov, are ones that will be able to get rid of problematic or unnecessary territories in such a way.
Compensations demanded
Some municipalities are prepared to negotiate with the state. "We want compensation for our losses. They can, for example, contirbute to installation of street lighting or the municipality's development in some other way," said mayor of Bulovce Petr Dušek.
Česká Čermná made its claim too - municipal authorities want the state to build them a residential building.
The Czech government authorized the Interior Ministry to choose land that could possibly be handed over to Poland.
First localities that should equal roughly 140 hectares are expected to be chosen before the end of June.
The selection needs to be subsequently sanctioned by the cabinet, both chambers of the parliament as well as by the Polish side.
The question of the remaining 228 hectares will be addressed later.
Těšín dispute
The Těšín region dispute originated after the First World War when newly established Poland and Czechoslovakia both claimed sovereignty over the land. The tension even resulted in minor military skirmishes.
After the Munich Agreement of 1938 appeased territorial claims of Nazi Germany to parts of Czechoslovakian territory - namely the Sudetenland border regions - Poland put forward its demands too, eventually annexing the territory of Český Těšín.
After the Second World War, original frontiers established in years 1918-1920 were restored.
