9 February 2009 | Albania should try to solve the problem of disputed property titles in order to attract foreign investment and meet EU criteria for eventual membership, the EU ambassador to Tirana told media recently.

“Clear property titles and legal security are essential prerequisites for the prosperous development of the country, the attraction of foreign direct investment, social peace as well as for the country’s European integration process,” Helmuth Lohan, the EU envoy to Albania said, as reported by international media recently.

Since the fall of communism in Albania, successive governments have been trying with little or no success to return property to former owners dispossessed after World War II. According to reports, rural land has been distributed to those living on it while urban real estate has been returned to pre-war owners, although the process has been bogged down by red tape and corruption, resulting in multiple and conflicting property titles.

According to Lohan, tourism along Albania’s Adriatic and Ionian Sea coasts, one of the country’s main sectors for economic development, was a victim of the land ownership disputes. Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha, however, has argued that the problem is not that serious and does not discourage foreign investment.

As BalkanTravellers.com reported in January, the construction of a Club Mediteranee resort on the Adriatic coast of southern Albania was postponed for five years because of unresolved property and access issues.

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