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Rama speaks to Reuters: The Zvërnec project will not be stopped, despite protests

2026-06-08 22:05:15Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
Rama speaks to Reuters

Reuters / Albania will press ahead with a luxury resort planned by Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, on a remote part of the Balkan coast, despite ongoing protests over its environmental impact, Prime Minister Edi Rama told Reuters on Monday.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the capital, Tirana, and on the southern coast where the resort is proposed to be built, demanding that the project be canceled due to the impact on a protected wetland home to flamingos, seals and sea turtle nesting sites.

The flamingo has emerged as the symbol of the movement. Protesters hold pink birds and banners that say "Flamingo Revolution."

Rama is unfazed by this, telling Reuters that the developers will "amaze" viewers with their plans in the coming months and that parts of the resort could be open to the public before the end of the decade.

"I'm telling you, it will be a beautiful project and we will do it and we will be proud to contribute to Europe," Rama said during an interview in his office, a few meters from where daily demonstrations against the project have taken place.

"I was voted in to make these things happen. I wasn't voted in to be led by people who have a different idea of ??how to develop the country."

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tirana on Monday evening, demanding a halt to the project, but also voicing a host of grievances against Rama's 13-year mandate, which they say has failed to eradicate corruption or improve basic services.

"We are getting bigger and we will be here until he resigns. Not just for biodiversity, but for every injustice we face," said student Albano Lushi.

Rama, 61, a former basketball player and artist who took office in 2013 and aims to lead Albania into the EU, prides himself on presiding over the modernization of a country that had suffered for decades under a particularly stifling communist dictatorship until the 1990s.

He cultivates a casual style, dressed in a loose black suit, black T-shirt and white sneakers. His office looks like an urban co-working space, with wallpaper covered in his colorful paintings. Plates filled with colored pencils and markers are scattered around, and his desk is a mess of drawings.

The resort development he supports is the brainchild of Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, who described their love for Albania a few years ago while visiting it on a boat. Rama met them on that trip and found them to be "very nice, modest people... very humane."

Now, Kushner's investment firm, Affinity Partners, is involved in the 1.4 billion euro ($1.6 billion) project near the Vjosa-Nartë protected area, and another on the nearby island of Sazan.

Together, the projects have a value of up to 5 billion euros, Rama said.

"It's a big dream, and big dreams have always been met with controversy."

Affinity Partners and Kushner did not respond to requests for comment. Sazan Real Estate Development LLC, which is developing the plans, told Reuters it would do so responsibly.

The protests began in late May when the area near Vjosa-Narta was fenced off with barbed wire due to work on an access road and other pre-construction developments. Several protesters were injured in clashes with private security guards. The anger then spread to Tirana.

The fence has since been removed. Rama admitted it was a "shameful idea" to erect it.

However, Rama downplayed environmental concerns. He said that an environmental impact assessment has not yet been conducted and will be completed in parallel with the developments.

"We are very proud of what we have done for wildlife in Albania. The European Commission has no reason to doubt our determined will to protect everything that needs to be protected when it comes to wildlife and nature."


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