Constitutional Court outlaws the change of nationality

TIRANA, Sept.16 - Constitutional Court ruled today that the law on Vital Statistics, which enabled the citizens of Albania to change their nationality by court order, violates the constitution of the Republic of Albania. The justices voted 6 to 2 to invalidate the law. The parliament passed the Vital Statistics bill in 2009, and ever since, there has been a disturbing increase in the number of citizens filing for change of their Albanian nationality to Greek, especially in the south. Three districts courts took the law to the Constitutional Court for interpretation.  The decision today will end the filing process for change of nationality. It was cheerfully greeted by Aleanca Kuq e Zi (Black and White Alliance), a newly founded nationalist movement that staunchly supported the invalidation of this law.  

Although the decision by the Constitutional Court does not directly affect the much-debated process of religion and ethnicity-based census, scheduled to start in October, it is expected to invigorate the anti-census campaigns and will inevitably damage its reliability. 

The census is backed and funded by the European Union. An EU delegation is in Albania to promote the significance of the census for the country’s future. None of its members has commented on the Constitutional Court’s decision yet.

A.Kola