Legal Reform on Property Restitution and Compensation and the Perspective of the European Integration of Albania. (Review of Legal Framework)

During the last 20 years, a large number of expropriated subjects were entitled the right for property compensation. Although many years have passed since then, the titles which recognize the rights for property compensation have remained unexecuted. The lack of a concrete and realistic scheme which is based on the principle of suitable compensation, equal treatment and proportionality has turned the attained property rights into an illusion. Therefore, any expropriated subject may reasonably raise the following questions which constitute the foundation of this study: • When will the property compensation be achieved considering that the law does not foresee it? • Should the law offer clear specifications? • What does the application for financial compensation mean according to the rules and criteria layed down by the Council of Ministers, and when the compensation is obtained when will the remaining part be issued? • Is such a regulation legal (constitutional)? Thus, does this regulation comply the constitutional principles? Being focused on finding a solution to the property compensation issue, this study analyses some of the main legal institutions foreseen by the legislation in this field from year 2004 up to nowadays. A specific attention is given to the current compensation scheme and its legality from the perspective of the constitutional assurances, ECHR practices and constitutional jurisprudences of other countries. Firstly, this analysis aims to identify the theoretic guarantees provided by the law and how effective is such implementation in practice. The study modestly strives to answer to the aforementioned questions by examining the main problems highlighted during this process. It also aims to sensibilize the actors of the system which are seriously committed to carry out the necessary changes to provide solution to the land ownership as one of the main political, legal, economic and social challenges faced by the Albanian state.