Britain has rejected opening the issue of the post-war Benes decrees in
connection with the expansion of the European Union. Germany, Austria and
Hungary have been calling for the abolition of the Benes decrees which
sanctioned the expulsion of ethnic Germans and Hungarians from
Czechoslovakia after World War II and allowed for confiscation of their
property. Certain groups in Germany and Austria have been trying to make the
Czech Republic's accession to the EU conditional on revocation of the
decrees. British ambassador to the Slovakia, Roderic Todd, said on Saturday
that Britain saw no reason for the Benes decrees to play a role in European
enlargement.