TIRANA, Jan.25 – President Bujar Nishani has decided to take the property compensation law to the Constitutional Court after Parliament refused to review the law last week. The President had returned the law in Parliament motivating his decision that the law violates the constitutional principle of legal certainty, equality before the law as well as it goes against the decisions of the Constitutional Court and the standard established by the European Court of Human Rights.
The majority decided to vote the law unchanged in the parliament session of January 21, without taking into consideration any of the President’s objections. Initially, the law passed in Parliament with 78 votes in favor on December 5, whereas the President decided to return it to Parliament for a review on December 29 saying that the law was unconstitutional. A day after, Prime Minister Edi Rama remarked that the majority was committed to pass the law regardless of the President’s opposition.
Through this law the government aims to put an end once and for all to the property issue in Albania with the process President maintains firm stance against property compensation law After Parliament disregarded the President’s objections, Nishani has informed that he will take the issue to the Constitutional Court of property restitution and compensation to be completed within the next ten years, while a Euro 360 million fund will be made available for former owners.
President Nishani has often been at odds with the ruling majority in the past and has returned to Parliament for review other important initiatives, but the President has rarely resorted to taking the case to the Constitutional Court. Former President Alfred Moisiu defended the decision of President Nishani to send the law to the Constitutional Court saying that it is a right bestowed to him by law, while also adding that the law is extremely important and despite lacking certain elements it has received the praise of foreign experts, according to Moisiu.
Thousands of families were expropriated by the Communists when they took power following the end of World War II and efforts of many post-communist governments to definitively resolve the property restitution and compensation issue have so far failed. The unresolved property issue has had serious financial consequences as well as social effects in Albania. Not only it holds back foreign investments due to ownership disputes, but it has also resulted in an extra financial bill because of several rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in favor of families who have been expropriated.
The unresolved property issue is also held as responsible for thousands of deaths stemming from disputes over land ownership. A large part of which have occurred as a result of property disputes arising from the law no 7501 which redistributed lands based on the principle that those who work the land own it, resulting in an overlap of ownership with several individuals claiming the same property.
