rT ansitional Justice and Democratic Consolidation in post-communist aE stern uE rope: Romania and Albania. antagonism that has accompanied not just the 1990s but continues to this day (Kalemaj 2017). As it pertains to reparative mechanisms, Albania undertook rehabilitation first through the Amnesty Law in 1991. After the hunger strike from the politically persecuted prisoners, the Innocence Law acquitted these (former) prisoners of any false charge based on their ideological linings. But Albania never applied any form of property restitution for former political prisoners and the chief reason for that was the application of the new Agrarian Reform and the infamous 7501 Law that distributed the land equally. Among other reparative measures that were undertaken of importance was financial compensation through government issued securities (Alb-letra me vlere), which soon become worthless but, in the beginning, could serve for privatization of some of public enterprises. Regarding the verification trials as they were called, to certify the real sufferers of conscience under the former regime and ways to compensate them there were several forms to deal with. First, for those shot with court decision, the family would benefit the financial compensation. Second, was the category of the political prisoners. Third, the category of people shot without a court order after identification of bodies and data obtained from family members and witnesses. In any case, we are talking only of financial compensation, but not property restitution. See the table below for a summary of transitional justice measures and how they have applied in the Albanian case. Table 2. Summary of competing theories in TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE and their main instruments in Albania Theory Summary of what happened Retributive Limited Trials in immediate post-communist years Vetting of former officials just starting (as we speak) - same as in Romania Restorative Mostly rhetorical in level of political discourse Truth Commission- same as in Romania Reparative Rehabilitation and Financial Compensation that started in 1991 and still Continues (also included treasure bonds/securities) Lack of property restitution- Same as in Romania Albania’s yet to be completed democratic consolidation Albania fails the test of democratic consolidation even measured by regional standards. Albania currently ranks as a partly free country with a hybrid democracy according to Freedom House index. It has an Aggregate Freedom Score of 68 for year 2019 (Freedom House, 2019), while it has further worsened in some indicators such as corruption. For example, in the last Transparency International Report, Albania slid back in the ranking and now occupied place 99 among 180 countries with a poor score of only 36 out of 100 (Transparency International 2018). It specified especially political corruption as a “serious and ongoing problem” in the country. From its inception, Albania has had a “rocky road to democracy” (Biberaj 1999). This can be at least partly explained through the disproportional impact that the former communist past 69