That will leave a mark

Poland comes off the top rope.

"We are only demanding one thing - that we get back what was taken from us," said Jaroslaw Kaczynski at the opening of the EU summit in Brussels, chaired by German chancellor Angela Merkel.

"If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million."

The issue of population is at the heart of a heated row over voting rights that could wreck Tony Blair's last EU summit.

A proposed new system of sharing out votes rewards countries such as Germany with the biggest numbers - and Poland is angrily demanding more.

Poland's population is 38 million - implying that Mr Kaczynski blames the Germans for the loss of 28 million people.

One could say that you did get East Pomerania and Silesia in exchange for the area around Lwow now in Belorussia...but...

That is OK, this fits fine for Europe as we know it.

New French president Nicolas Sarkozy said there were multiple disputes.
"We don't just have problems with Poland," he said. "We have problems with the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, a little bit with the Czech Republic. The problems are numerous."

The article does have a nice summary though - Poland has a right to be prickly. After all, they saved Europe from the Muslim hoard last time, only to be carved up by Austria, Prussia and Russia later. I would hold a grudge as well.