Albania has been rocked by some of the most severe unrest in decades after the government pressed ahead with plans for a luxury resort in the Vjosa-Narta protected wetland, an ecologically sensitive area that environmentalists say should never be developed. The project, estimated at €4 billion and linked to Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, would see up to 10,000 villas built on ancient dunes and forest that critics say have already been damaged by access road construction.
Dutch MEP Tineke Strik, who led a European parliament fact-finding mission to Albania in June, accused Rama of deploying “sneaky” practices to finalise the development before the country becomes bound by European Union environmental standards. “If the Albanian government had taken the ‘Flamingo Revolution’ seriously we wouldn’t be here,” she said, referring to the peaceful movement that preceded the current violence. “The students are voicing the frustration of people who feel that they haven’t been listened to.”
Student protesters have vowed to continue until Rama resigns, a demand he has rejected. “This terrible resort idea was the match that lit this fire,” said Greta, a student in Tirana. “Now there are other issues that are whipping up the flames. We actually really care about the state of our democracy, about living standards, about education.”
The government passed a law allowing “strategic investors” to build in parts of the Vjosa-Narta landscape, which the European Parliament in June called on Albania to repeal, warning it threatened environmental standards that are “non-negotiable conditions of accession”. Construction broke ground in May, sparking nationwide protests that have now turned violent.
Rama, re-elected for a fourth term last year, has pushed back, arguing the development is essential for a country that was once “North Korea of Europe”. In a live address on social media he said: “Albanians need to think very clearly: do they want this, do they want that, or do they want the EU?” At a tourism forum in Brussels he insisted the project would be a gamechanger, adding: “The idea that nature will take care of itself, if we simply look at it, is preposterous and old.”
Kushner himself stated on 8 October that the venture aimed “to build to the highest design and environmental standards and leave this extraordinary part of Albania greener, more biodiverse and environmentally stronger”.
Environmentalists remain unconvinced. Aleksander Trajce of the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) said science had already spoken when experts chose to protect the area in 2004. “Reopening the discussion is not only disingenuous but clearly a way to justify construction that should not be happening at all,” he said, adding that a proper environmental impact assessment would take at least two years.
Strik accused Rama of serving his own interests and those of Kushner rather than the Albanian people, and called on the EU to condemn what she described as disloyal practices. Asked about her claims, Rama told the Guardian: “Please tell the honourable lady that the violence in Tirana is very real. Instead of imagining environmental plots that do not exist, she could help Albania by condemning the violence she appears to appreciate, in an unfortunate echo of the Kremlin’s own lady, Madam Zakharova.”