Topi calls unacceptable not solving the property issue

TIRANA, Jan 12 – President Bamir Topi said that it was unacceptable that property ownership remains a debatable and unsolved issue in the post-communist country.
Topi met Monday with a group of property owners seeking return of their properties.
The property owners said they were displeased with the way the government had dealt with their issue.
In a sign of support, Topi said that very often it is those people who have illegally occupied properties owned by others who are more aggressive in efforts to register properties.
Old property owners claim thousands of hectares confiscated from the former communist regime, or compensation in money which could go as high as $30 billion.
The government has paid some compensation in the last few years for a total of $5 million each year.
Topi said that he had no competencies to resolve this important issue but reaffirmed his commitment to bring an end to the property controversy, which is also a key priority in the country’s efforts of integration into the European Union.
Topi accused other people who were very much in favor of a lustration law at a time when many of them were former agents of the ex-communist secret police Sigurimi.
The president is expected to sign, or not, the lustration law passed by the parliament in December.
The law has been criticized by the opposition and also international law experts for not being appropriate in the form it is drafted as it may ignore many former secret policemen.