The interview came amid reports that Restitution Crecy, an organization which is fighting for the restoration of the Poles' rights to property in territory which was transferred from Poland to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic following the Second World War, had already gathered 600 packages of documents for litigation. The total value of the group's claims is reportedly about five billion dollars.
During the interview, Rękas blamed Ukrainian authorities for their unwillingness to resolve the problem of restitution.
"We are seeing an increase in the obstacles [to restitution], and a gradual closing of the archives in Ukraine," he said.
Rękas added that Kiev will hardly succeed in preventing the process of restitution.
"I would like to dispel the hopes of the Ukrainian authorities. [These 600] documents have been discussed and prepared at length. The destruction or concealment of evidence will have no impact on the cases, particularly in the European courts," he said.
He also warned the Ukrainian authorities against mixing private and public law on issues related to the restitution of Polish property rights in Ukraine after World War II.
He concluded by recalling that the issue of restitution had been put on the table because the Ukrainian authorities agreed to start dealing with it.
"Now, even if they resist, it means that they will sabotage their own act of [establishing] an association agreement with the EU," he pointed out.
