Will the undoing of a historical injustice towards the former generations (from whom the new government after WWII took property) lead to the injustice towards the future generations which will have to repay that debt?
That is the key dilemma which follows the disputes led today about restitution. The authorities today, who have been putting this civilization obligation off, justify their hesitance with that argument.
On the other hand, individuals and organizations seeking the retrieval of the taken property strongly confute it and call it a simple manipulation.
The mentioned disputes are largely waiting in the dark because the state, precisely the government, isn’t stepping out with a suggestion so they know what they are talking about. But, “the cat in the bag” is the restitution itself because, according to reliable sources of Novi magazin, the government, to say it nicely, hasn’t the slightest idea about where, what kind and how big of a property it is dealing with.
But, no matter what, there will be a restitution. Because the European Union insist on it. Without it Serbia will not receive the status of the candidate country for the membership to the EU.
In that sense we should be looking at this week’s statement of Goran Radosavljevic, the president of the work group for the drafting of the law on restitution, that the government will pass the law in July.
Completely in accordance with that is the statement of Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, the president of the Parliament, made on the same day, that the restitution law will be in front of the legislators in August and that it will be passed “in the first fall session.
Considering that there is no evidence about the property – how much was it given to the purpose of use, where exactly are those plots, what is the state of the government apartments and the agricultural land, who is cultivating it, is it all in weeds – that means that the government can’t offer anything in exchange for the property it cannot give back in its original form, because it doesn’t know what is at its disposal.
How will they make a new law then? The ones waiting for the restitution are also dealing with half true information. From some 140.000 claims for the retrieval of nationalized property that have arrived, some 40 percent don’t have proof that the land is even theirs, or their ancestors.
Just like it didn’t record its own property, the government also didn’t check in what state is the property that needs to be restituted, has it been sold, or leased out, or in the meantime restated, buildings taken down or the land sold.
And they will pass the law in which it should say which land and in what way will be returned, replaced or paid for. What are we going to pay and how much? Does that mean that they will swindle a “Cuckoo’s egg” to Europe in order to fulfill a condition or will it succeed in dealing in three months with the problem that has been “hanging on its neck” for a whole decade?
The records are not the only problem of the restitution. Serbia already has the Law on restitution of the property of the church and religious congregations, with which the confiscated property has been being returned in the last five years, primarily in natural goods.
The Serbian Orthodox Church warns that the process has been at a standstill. That should be of no surprise.