A Trump-Affiliated Proposal Ignites Controversy in One of the World’s Last Untamed Regions

Albania is determined to move forward with a luxury resort project spearheaded by Donald Trump’s son-in-law, despite mounting opposition.

The capital city of Tirana has seen thousands of protesters rally against the construction of a multi-billion-dollar high-end development. This site is planned for one of Europe’s most pristine and ecologically sensitive regions.

Embracing local wildlife as their emblem, the protesters, who have dubbed their movement the Flamingo Revolution, are now entering their second week of demonstrations. The project has become a focal point of discontent with the long-standing administration of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

Edi Rama, the leader of the Socialist Party and Albania’s head since 2013, expressed to Reuters that the project will exceed critics’ expectations and could be accessible to the public before the decade concludes.

“This will be a magnificent project, and we are committed to its realization,” Rama stated. “We will take pride in contributing to Europe.”

“I was voted in to make these things happen. I’m not voted to be led by people that have a different idea of how to develop the country.”

On Tuesday, demonstrators occupied the streets around Rama’s office, seeking to end his 13-year rule, which they say has failed to stop corruption or improve basic services.

“We are getting bigger and we are here until he resigns. Not only for biodiversity but for every injustice we face,” one student protestor, Albano Lushi, told Reuters.

The luxury plan

Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump, the US president’s daughter, set their sights on two locations on the Balkan Peninsula after a yachting holiday in 2021: the island of Sazan, and the wetlands of Vjosa-Narta.

“We swam to the island, we went on a hike barefoot to the top and we were just captivated,” Ivanka told the Lex Fridman podcast in 2024. “And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realise its potential.”

Just 4km in length, Sazan lies at the border of the Adriatic and Ionian seas. It has been a strategic military fortification for centuries, and at present is a decommissioned Cold War-era military base with a unique sub-tropical climate.

Vjosa-Narta, on Albania’s nearby Adriatic coast, is a protected coastal wetland and lagoon system that is part of a crucial migratory corridor for millions of birds travelling between Africa and Europe each year. It’s a haven for endangered seals, turtles, and flamingos, and is one of Europe’s last wild rivers.

Affinity Partners, Kushner’s private equity fund backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others, plans to construct around 10,000 hotel rooms and luxury villas across the two sites. Conceived as high-end, eco-luxury, the resorts will include a yacht marina, wellness spa, and fine-dining restaurants.

“We’re creating a very high-end luxury product,” Kushner told Italian journalist Marzio Mian.

The development relies on the construction of the nearby Vlora international airport, which will eventually funnel high-net-worth individuals directly to Kushner’s resorts.

The project was awarded “strategic investor” status by the Albanian government, and preliminary approval for the sale of Sazan was granted to Trump and Kushner in January 2025 for an estimated US$1.4 billion ($1.9 billion), which included a $4.7 billion ($6.6 billion) agreement on the Vjosa-Narta coastline.

The deal was only made public to citizens and parliamentarians by the Albanian press long after it had been agreed to.

The environmental politics

The Trump-linked plan has been controversial from the start.

Environmental groups have condemned it, claiming the Rama government is illegally aiding the development and lying to parliament.

Work began at Vjosa-Narta in April without permits or environmental assessment, something BirdLife Europe said has already caused “severe” and “irreversible” ecological damage.

“What is happening here is unprecedented. We have never seen anything like this in Albania’s protected areas,” Aleksandr Trajçe, director of the environmental group Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, said in a statement.

In May, protests erupted near the planned developments after barbed-wire topped fences were erected as part of pre-construction efforts. Videos circulated on social media allegedly show private security beating demonstrators while state police watch.

The anger quickly spread to Tirana, where chants of “cancel the project” and placards reading “Albania is not for sale” have filled the streets.

“There is no reason to worry as far as there is no project … yet approved,” Rama told reporters in Montenegro last week in an effort to calm tensions. “We cannot discuss something that does not exist,” he added, calling on Western media to be “much more careful” in their reporting.

However, he said that “top” world experts were involved in the plan “to make something unique”.

The international reaction

Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with an economy that has stagnated since the transition from communism in the early 1990s.

More than 1.2 million citizens have emigrated, while decades of protracted debate with the European Union has failed to bring about much-hoped-for EU membership.

For Rama, who met Kushner and Trump during their 2021 trip to the country and found them to be “very nice” and “humanly good people”, boosting tourism is essential.

The country “can’t afford not to exploit a gift like Sazan”, he told Mian, adding: “We need luxury tourism like a desert needs water.”

Albania is now a frontrunner to join the EU, with technical negotiations expected to close at the end of 2027. Rama has set a target of joining the economic bloc by 2030 however the Affinity plan could hamper the country’s chances.

The European Commission has warned that the development likely risks Albania’s ability to fulfil the environmental and climate change requirements necessary for membership.

“Albania should refrain from actions that could undermine the fulfilment of the closing benchmarks and [we] expect the Albanian authorities to act without delay,” a commission spokesperson told Politico.

Last week, the country’s anti-corruption prosecutor, SPAK, opened an investigation into legal changes made in 2024 that make it easier for governments to hand over public land to foreign and private investors.

Albania’s environment minister, Sofjan Jaupaj, has said construction on the project has been suspended and that “a comprehensive and responsible Environmental Impact Assessment, conducted in full transparency and with public consultation,” will be undertaken.

“We are very proud of what we have done for the wildlife in Albania,” Rama said. “The European Commission has no reason to doubt our firm will to protect whatever has to be protected when it comes to wildlife and nature.”

Still, protests look set to continue as demonstrators call for Rama’s resignation.

Albanian professor of political history, Lea Ypi, has described the movement as “an inspiring example of civic activism that I had not seen since the fall of communism”.

— With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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