Protests in Albania grow over Jared Kushner-backed luxury resort | Albania

Protests over a luxury resort proposal in Albania backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are set to intensify after opponents rejected an offer from the country’s prime minister to “discuss solutions”.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tirana for the third consecutive day on Wednesday; some were waving inflatable flamingos, pointing to feared environmental damage amid growing calls to block the project.

Protests are also planned in the south of the country, where groundwork on the $1.6bn (£1.19bn) complex has recently started in an area long seen as one of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the Mediterranean.

“There was a complete lack of transparency from beginning to end,” said Aleksandr Trajce, director general of the Protection and Protection of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), the country’s leading conservation group. “We haven’t seen any public consultation or public documentation around permits and so now we’re saying: If they take the bulldozers out, take the fences down and restore the habitat, then we can start talking.”

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has defended the development as a milestone on the tiny Balkan country’s path from Stalinist state to luxury holiday destination, offered to meet with protesters on Tuesday in a bid to break the gridlock. But the socialist leader also stuck to his guns, saying: “There is absolutely no chance of investment stopping as long as I am here.”

PPNEA, Albania’s oldest environmental group, raised the alarm when warnings emerged that a region with unique biodiversity and cultural heritage was at risk of being destroyed.

Earlier this year, Ivanka Trump made a surprise visit to the country with a team of architects to tour the area her husband’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, had earmarked for development.

The facility is intended to cover not only the uninhabited surface area of ​​Sazan, Albania’s only island, but also the wetlands and coastal habitats of the marine national park surrounding it. The waters are among the last refuges for Mediterranean monk seals, and the area is also home to more than 200 bird species, many of them endangered, including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans. based on To BirdLife International.

Protected coastal areas north of the village of Zvërnec, between the Narta lagoon and the sea, are also reserved for development.

“We have never seen anything like this in protected areas of Albania,” Trajce said. “This is not unprecedented; the rule of law has completely collapsed, without consideration for society, from environmental concerns, from contractual permits, from just bulldozers moving.”

The alarm turned into public outrage, he said, as workers began erecting a concrete-based, barbed wire-covered fence around the facility near Zvërnec, set up a private security company to guard it, and heavy machinery began destroying ancient sand dunes and Mediterranean pine forests to clear the way for access roads.

“That’s when the locals got really angry,” he said. “People who own land there or work on land there suddenly couldn’t access this issue… It’s now more than just an environmental issue. It’s a citizens’ issue. It’s much bigger.”

This week, SPAK, Albania’s special anti-corruption prosecution body, announced that it had launched an investigation into controversial legislative changes adopted in 2024 regarding protected areas.

The developers say they will proceed responsibly. “Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental recovery, job creation and long-term value creation for local communities. We respect ongoing public and corporate processes,” said Asher Abehsera, president of Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which developed the plans in partnership with Kushner’s firm.

Rama, who won his fourth term last year with a promise to bring Albania into the EU by 2030 and is keen to attract investment to a country that is among Europe’s poorest, also denies that the development would endanger its pristine coastline.

On June 1, the Albanian parliament said negotiations were still ongoing. The final offer has not been finalized yet. And in a statement on Wednesday, he said it was “very important that we remain welcome, that we remain fair and that we do not under any circumstances suffer the stigma of being a country where investors are greeted with hostility.”

In an interview with the Guardian before the project was first approved, Rama explained that Kushner’s interest in Albania dates back to the years when “Trump was no closer to being president of the United States and seemed closer to going to jail than to the White House.”

“This had nothing to do with Trump, but with Jared, an American investor with a great project,” he said.

Locked under the strict rule of a travel-banning regime for almost 50 years, Albania is becoming increasingly popular with visitors attracted by its natural beauty and affordability.

Rama’s effort to attract high-end investors is seen as a must, supporters say, if the goal is to avoid the pitfalls of overtourism. However, for the opposition, this debate also led to growing discontent with the government. “The anger is not directed at Kushner or Ivanka Trump, but at the government and the way it has handled this situation,” Trajce said.

Affinity Partners has been approached for comment.