Protests in Albania over a proposed luxury resort 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 took to the streets of Tirana for a third straight day on Wednesday, some of them brandishing inflatable flamingos in a nod to feared environmental damage, amid mounting calls for the project to be blocked.
Protests are also planned for the south of the country, where groundwork on the $1.6bn (£1.19bn) complex recently began in an area long seen as one of the Mediterranean’s most environmentally sensitive.
“From start to finish there has been a total lack of transparency,” said Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of the country’s leading conservation group, the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA). “We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits, and so now what we are saying is, if they remove the bulldozers, remove the fence and restore the habitats to what they were, then we can start talking.”
The prime minister, Edi Rama, who has defended the development as a milestone in the tiny Balkan country’s trajectory from Stalinist state to high-end holiday destination, proposed on Tuesday that he meet protesters in an attempt to break the logjam. But the socialist leader also stuck to his guns, saying: “There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here.”
As Albania’s oldest environment group, the PPNEA raised the alarm when warnings emerged that a region of 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, touring the site earmarked for development by her husband’s investment firm, Affinity Partners.
The resort is intended to cover an area that not only includes the uninhabited outcrop of Sazan, Albania’s only island, but wetlands and coastal habitats in the marine national park that surrounds it. The waters are among the last refuges for the Mediterranean monk seal, with the area also sheltering more than 200 bird species – many endangered – including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, according to BirdLife International.
Swathes of protected coastal landscape, north of the village of Zvërnec, between the lagoon of Narta and the sea, are also earmarked for development.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in Albania’s protected regions,” said Trajce. “It’s not just unprecedented, there’s been a complete collapse of rule of law with no consideration of society, no environmental consideration, no contract permits, just bulldozers moving in.”
Alarm, he said, had spiralled into public outrage when workmen began erecting a concrete-based, barbed wire-topped fence around the site near Zvërnec, installed a private security firm to protect it and heavy machinery started decimating ancient dunes and Mediterranean pine forests to clear the way for access roads.
“That’s when locals got really angry,” he said. “People with land there, or who work on land there, suddenly couldn’t get to it … It’s gone beyond being an environmental issue now. It’s a citizen thing. It’s much bigger.”
This week, Albania’s special anti-corruption prosecution body, SPAK, announced it had launched an inquiry into controversial legislative changes adopted in 2024 regarding protected areas.
Developers say they will progress responsibly. “Our focus remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities. We respect the ongoing public and institutional processes,” said Asher Abehsera, chair of Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which is developing the plans in partnership with Kushner’s firm.
Rama, who won a fourth term last year on a promise to get Albania into the EU by 2030 and is eager to attract investment to a country that remains among Europe’s poorest, also denies the development will endanger its virgin coastline.
On 1 June he told the Albanian parliament negotiations were still ongoing, with a final proposal yet to be clinched. And in a statement on Wednesday, he said it was “very important that we remain welcoming, that we remain fair, and that under no circumstances do we receive the stigma of being a country where investors are met with hostility”.
In an interview with the Guardian before the project was initially approved, Rama revealed that Kushner’s interest in Albania dated back for years “when Trump was not close to becoming US president and he looked more close to going to jail than to the White House”.
“It was not related to Trump but to Jared as an American investor with a great project,” he said.
Closed off for almost 50 years under the iron rule of a regime that banned travel, Albania has become increasingly popular among visitors lured by its natural beauty and affordability.
For supporters, Rama’s push to attract high-end investors is seen as a must if the destination is to avoid the pitfalls of overtourism. But for opponents the controversy has also fed into growing discontent with the government. “Anger is not so much directed against Kushner or Ivanka Trump but the government and the way it has handled this,” said Trajce.
Affinity Partners has been approached for comment.