Property rights in theory versus practice: the current process of evaluation and compensation of property in Albania

Abstract

In the latest and current attempt to solving the 30-year-old problem of the process of restitution of the rights of former owners in Albania, the Government has implemented a new methodology of evaluation of properties to be compensated. However, despite the remedy being in place for more than 6 years now, the domestic authorities have failed to materialize their predictions, with most intermittent deadlines having been missed, due to poor initial planning, numerous delays in implementation, poor execution, as well as necessities in amending the law. At the same time, these delays, especially the Government taking more than a year and a half to institute the necessary amendments to the law, pursuant to the findings of the ECtHR and Constitutional Court, have also put at risk the implementation of the law as a whole and the missing of the final deadline of 2026, for the finalization of the process.