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The Long Road Home – Struggling For Property Rights in Post-Communist Europe

Members

Hon. Chris Smith

Chairman

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Hon. Ben Nighthorse Campbell

Co-Chairman

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Hon. James Greenwood

Commissioner

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Hon. Michael Forbes

Commissioner

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

Witnesses

Stuart Eizenstat

Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs/U.S. Special Envoy for Property Claims in Centeral and Eastern Europe

U.S. State Department

Michael Lewan

Chairman

United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad

Bishop John Michael Botean

Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton Ohio

Vladislav Bevc

Executive Officer

American Owners of Property In Slovenia

Jan Sammer

Czech Coordinating Office

In this hearing, presided over by Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), the focus was on property restitution. Discussed by Smith, Campbell, other legislators, and witnesses – Stuart E. Eizenstat, Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs and U.S. Special Envoy for Property Claims in Central and Eastern Europe; Michael Lewan, Chairman, United States Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad; Bishop John Michael Botean, Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton, Ohio; Vladislav Bevc, Ph.D., Executive Officer, American Owners of Property in Slovenia; Jan Sammer, The Czech Coordinating Office (non-governmental organization), Toronto, Canada; and, Vytautas Sliupas, Lithuanian “Class Action Complaint Group” – at issue was ill treatment and discrimination of religious communities. Smith stated, “Ill treatment afforded some religious communities suggests that religious inequality and discrimination are often at the heart of a government’s restitution policies rather than economic constraints or other legitimate issues that need to be worked through.”

Likewise, Campbell stated, “Property restitution and compensation are not favors these newly free countries do for those who fled for their lives. They are essential steps forward in their own economic and political development.”

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