Kushner-backed Albania resort sparks protests, EU concerns
Bulldozers, barbed-wire fences and security guards dragging protesters across the sand are not the images Albania hoped would dominate headlines just days after it received positive signals from Brussels over progress in its EU accession talks. Yet that is precisely what happene
Bulldozers, barbed-wire fences and security guards dragging protesters across the sand are not the images Albania hoped would dominate headlines just days after it received positive signals from Brussels over progress in its EU accession talks.
Yet that is precisely what happened in the the Narta Lagoon area, a protected landscape on the country's southern coast.
At the center of the dispute is the proposed Zvernec Peninsula development, a tourism project linked to Jared Kushner , the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump . What started as a fight over construction in a protected area has grown into a wider debate about development, environmental protection and Albania's future in Europe. Just 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the city of Vlora, developers are planning what could become one of the largest tourism projects in Albania's history. The company behind it says it could exceed €4 billion ($4.6 billion) and create more than 10,000 jobs. Prime Minister Edi Rama has described it as a strategic investment that could help move Albania into the top tier of global tourism .
Pishe Poro–Narta is one of Albania's most important protected coastal landscapes. Its lagoons, wetlands, pine forests and sand dunes provide habitat for hundreds of species and serve as an important stopover point for migratory birds traveling between Europe and Africa, including protected pink flamingos.
On the morning of May 30, activists walked through pine forests and sand dunes to reach the construction site. Waiting for them were construction equipment, newly erected fences and private security guards.
Videos shared on social media showed demonstrators being forcibly removed from the area, sparking public outrage. In the days that followed, thousands of people joined solidarity protests in Tirana under the slogan "Albania is not for sale," calling for the project to be halted.
Environmental organisations have also called for full disclosure of documents related to the project, arguing that key decisions have not been made transparent to the public.
For more than a decade, Besjana Shehu, the conservationist and co-founder of the Albanian Ornithological Society, has worked to protect the wetlands, forests and lagoons of Pishe Poro–Narta. But she said the scenes that unfolded on May 30 marked a turning point in a much longer battle over the area's future.
