A Bulgarian court should rule within a month on whether the government will honor a property claim by Bulgarian Jews. The Bulgarian government confiscated Jewish real estate in 1943, and the Rila Hotel — now worth an estimated $34 million — was built more than 40 years ago on land where a Jewish school had stood before World War II. In 1992, a Bulgarian court ruled that the Bulgarian Jewish organization Shalom was the legal owner of nearly 49 percent of the property and ordered that that portion of the hotel’s property, or its value, be returned. Despite repeated promises, however, the Bulgarian government refused to transfer ownership or pay Shalom any compensation, and in 2000 the hotel was privatized. Shalom pressed its claim over the past decade, and on Tuesday the case opened before the highest Bulgarian court for civil appeals. Last month the European Union voted to move forward on admitting Bulgaria in 2007, but observers say Bulgaria still needs to! show progress on judicial reform to be admitted.
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