Lithuanian government wants further delay of compensation payments

Lithuania is to delay payments from a compensation fund for Jewish property seized by the Nazis during World War II and kept by the state during the Soviet era, a government spokesman has said. "The government has decided that compensation payouts will begin in 2012, because of the economic crisis, and will continue for ten years," Ridas Jasulionis told the news agency AFP after a Cabinet meeting. Under rules drawn up in March, and yet to be approved by the country's parliament, Lithuania decided to start payouts in 2011 in an attempt to settle the issue of compensation for property seized from the Jewish community before the Holocaust. The government has been slashing public spending in the face of a crisis which is expected to see the economy shrink by 18.2 percent this year.

Under the compensation plan, the state pledged to pay out 113 million litas (US$ 46 million from a government fund until 2021. Lithuania's Jewish community, which the government asked for feedback, had in April said the fund's role was unclear and also complained that the package allowed only for fiscal compensation for confiscated property and not for the return of buildings. Jasulionis said the government was still looking for ways to have buildings returned in kind.