{"id":879,"date":"2026-06-25T14:42:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/why-a-development-project-linked-to-donald-trumps-son-in-law-has-rocked-albania\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:42:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:42:56","slug":"why-a-development-project-linked-to-donald-trumps-son-in-law-has-rocked-albania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/why-a-development-project-linked-to-donald-trumps-son-in-law-has-rocked-albania\/","title":{"rendered":"Why a development project linked to Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law has rocked Albania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Albanians have been taking to the streets of their capital, Tirana, for over three weeks now to oppose a luxury coastal resort project backed<\/a> by Jared Kushner, the son\u2011in\u2011law of the US president, Donald Trump. The \u20ac4 billion (\u00a33.5 billion) development will be constructed on southern Albania\u2019s unspoiled Zv\u00ebrnec coastline and surrounding wetlands.<\/p>\n

Albania\u2019s<\/a> longstanding prime minister, Edi Rama, who has been in power since 2013, has hailed the<\/a> project as transformative for the Albanian economy and tourism sector. But local residents and environmental organisations have fiercely resisted<\/a> the plan, citing unresolved land ownership disputes and the threat it poses to fragile ecosystems. <\/p>\n

Public anger exploded in late May when footage emerged of a protester being dragged across<\/a> a cliff by security guards at the resort site. The video went viral, igniting Albania\u2019s largest civic protests in decades and galvanising a society long divided by party politics and the legacy of communism.<\/p>\n

The protests have snowballed into a broad anti\u2011government movement that has become known as the \u201cflamingo revolution\u201d, named after the rare birds that inhabit the wetlands threatened by the Zv\u00ebrnec development. Protesters in Tirana, as well as at demonstrations organised by the diaspora across Europe, are demanding Rama\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

The anger on display has been building for years in a country plagued by systemic corruption<\/a>. A string of government ministers have been jailed in recent years for abuse of office<\/a> and on corruption charges<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And while tackling corruption and organised crime remains the central condition for Albania\u2019s accession to the EU, for which negotiations opened in 2024, Rama\u2019s government has repeatedly undermined accountability.<\/p>\n

His ruling Socialist party recently refused a request from Albania\u2019s EU\u2011sponsored special prosecution body to lift the parliamentary immunity of the former deputy prime minister Belinda Balluku. She has been indicted for corruption<\/a>, though denies any wrongdoing. Moves like this threaten to delay<\/a> Albania\u2019s EU accession further. <\/p>\n

The cost of living in Albania has also soared. Fuel prices there were among the highest<\/a> in the Balkans, even before the energy shocks linked to wars in Ukraine and Iran. Politically connected individuals dominate Albania\u2019s energy market and stifle competition. <\/p>\n

Foreign investors have long faced significant challenges<\/a> in doing business in Albania due to distorted competition, as well as corruption in procurement and the weak enforcement of contracts. <\/p>\n

At the same time, a housing affordability crisis has pushed many people to the brink. Albania\u2019s real estate sector has seen rapid growth in recent years, facilitated<\/a> by weak oversight of transactions. A UN report from 2021<\/a> suggested that money laundering has become a major factor in the price increases in Tirana and coastal areas.<\/p>\n

Tourism is a key engine of growth for Albania, with millions of people now visiting the country each year. However, an underdeveloped domestic food industry as well as poor road and rail connectivity means ordinary Albanians are rarely able to capitalise on the sector\u2019s success. <\/p>\n

Young people in particular feel excluded from political processes and economic opportunities, shut out by opaque decision\u2011making and entrenched elites. More than half a million Albanians have emigrated<\/a> to EU countries in the past decade in search of better opportunities. <\/p>\n

What comes next?<\/h2>\n

With the protests now in their fourth week, the question hanging in the air is what the endgame might be. Protesters are demanding not only the government\u2019s resignation but also deep structural reforms, starting with an overhaul of the country\u2019s electoral system. <\/p>\n

Many are calling for a caretaker government tasked with making constitutional amendments and renewing the fight against organised crime and corruption. <\/p>\n

But the Socialist party holds a comfortable parliamentary majority and Rama has so far dismissed<\/a> calls to step down. He has attacked protesters<\/a> with slurs and suggested \u2013 without providing evidence \u2013 that foreign malign actors are behind the movement.<\/p>\n

However, pressure is mounting. On June 17, the European parliament urged<\/a> Albania to suspend construction in protected areas. And the special prosecution has indicted several people<\/a> allegedly involved in money laundering in construction, a sector that has long been considered a pillar of the government\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Signs of dissent are also emerging within the Socialist party ranks. Marjana Ko\u00e7eku, a young ruling party MP, recently defected<\/a> to become an independent. And during the current unrest, some former cabinet ministers<\/a> have publicly criticised what they see as Rama\u2019s strong rule of the country. <\/p>\n

The protest movement is ideologically diverse, making it hard to coalesce into a single political party. Yet it still poses a genuine challenge to Rama\u2019s authority. The sheer scale of public mobilisation signals a profound legitimacy crisis and the desire among Albanians for a future without the existing elite at the helm of their country. <\/p>\n

Refusing to resign, Rama hopes the movement will lose momentum. Yet the protests have empowered Albanians who now believe that deep political change is possible.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Altin Gjeta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thousands of Albanians have been taking to the streets of their capital, Tirana, for over three weeks now to oppose a luxury coastal resort project backed by Jared Kushner, the son\u2011in\u2011law of the US president, Donald Trump. The \u20ac4 billion (\u00a33.5 billion) development will be constructed on southern Albania\u2019s unspoiled Zv\u00ebrnec coastline and surrounding wetlands. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}