Albania protests erupt against Kushner-backed resort
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- Tens of thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets in what's dubbed the "flamingo revolution" against a €1.4bn mega-resort backed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on Sazan island and the Zvërnec peninsula, with the largest rally drawing thousands to Tirana over the weekend
- Albania's parliament amended stringent environmental protection laws to grant preliminary approval for the development in the Pishë Poro-Narta reserve, home to one of Europe's last wild rivers and 70+ endangered species, though there is no evidence Kushner had any role in the legal change
- The European Parliament passed a resolution backing the protesters and urging Tirana to halt construction in protected zones, with EU officials warning that accession negotiations cannot conclude without agreement on the environmental laws
- Private security contractors erected a fence to block public access at the construction site, and a local landowner was filmed being dragged by guards in handcuffs while police controversially declined to intervene
- PM Edi Rama has defended the project as Albania's biggest-ever investment and vital for EU membership, claiming it will ultimately result in approximately 25% more trees and green space despite the protected-zone designation
- The investors' identities remain concealed behind a multi-layered shell company in the Netherlands, fueling accusations of opacity around the deal
- Ivanka Trump described the project on a podcast as "massive in scale," enthusing over plans for a 10,000-room resort and 5 miles of beachfront in what critics called a "Christopher Columbus-style" account of discovering Albanian land
Why it matters: Albania's EU accession bid, which officials say hinges on environmental law alignment, now collides with a leaderless protest movement expanding far beyond the Kushner project into demands for systemic reform. The EU Parliament's intervention signals Brussels views rule-of-law compliance as a direct membership prerequisite, while Rama's refusal to halt a €1.4bn protected-zone development shows the political cost he will absorb to keep the deal alive.
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