 |
| In the Albanian Parliament during a regular session |
The parliamentary group of the Justice, Integration, and Unity Party (PDIU) in the Albanian Parliament has called for Albania and Greece to initiate the abrogation of Greece's war law against Albania, a law enacted by the Greek state 84 years ago.
The bill has been presented by the leader of PDIU, Shpëtim Idrizi, who has long declared that this law is "absurd."
Journalist Erneta Shevroja, in a live connection for "Midday Edition" on ABC News, reported, "The Conference of Presidents will discuss including it on the agenda in parliamentary sessions. PDIU states that given the good relations between Albania and Greece, where the foreign ministers of both countries have expressed support for the abolition of the war law, it seems absurd for it to continue. The Assembly is asked to extend an invitation to the Greek parliament to include this issue in their parliamentary discussions. The Council of Ministers is also urged to focus on this matter."
The initiative reflects the ongoing effort to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two neighboring countries, removing outdated and counterproductive legal obstacles.
The Greece–Albania War Law
On October 28, 1940, Italy declared war on Greece and attacked its territory through the annexed territory of the Albanian state. On November 10, 1940, Greek Royal Decree No. 2636 was issued "on the legal actions of enemies and the conservative confiscation of enemy properties." Based on this law, the properties of Albanians across Greece were placed under conservative sequestration and, as a result, would be administered by the Greek state.
On August 28, 1987, the Greek government decided to abolish the war law but did not publish it in the official gazette.
Legal Situation
There are several sub-legal acts that are based on the war law.
Through two sub-legal acts of the Ministry of Finance (No. 14882) and the Ministry of Economy (No. 3574), as well as Law No. 4506/1965, Greece has made exceptions for Albanian citizens of Greek nationality, granting them the right to reclaim their confiscated properties. This act of sequestration was upheld by the Greek Constitutional Court in 1970, declaring the continuation of the confiscation of properties of Albanians of non-Greek nationality until the moment of the abolition of the War Law and the signing of a peace treaty between Greece and Albania.
On September 29, 1976, the appellate prosecutor in Ioannina, Vasilios Xhavellas (Εισαγγελέα Εφετών, Βασιλείου Τζαβέλλα), wrote to the Greek Ministry of Justice, which had been instructed by the same ministry to destroy all files with criminal cases that the Greek state had compiled against the Cham population.
To this day, the decree of the state of war with Albania and the sequestration law for the properties of Albanians have not been repealed.