EU warns Albania over project linked to Jared Kushner

The European Commission has warned Albania to refrain from moves that could jeopardize its path to European Union membership, amid days of protests across the country over a development project linked to US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Politiko reports.

National protests entered their seventh day on Sunday as Albanians demanded the cancellation of a luxury resort linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. Opponents of the project say it threatens a protected area home to flamingos, seals and nesting sea turtles, Politiko reports.

The European Commission warns that the project could bring Albania into conflict with EU environmental rules and jeopardize the closure of Chapter 27, which deals with the environment, in accession negotiations.

"Albania should refrain from actions that could jeopardize the fulfillment of the final benchmarks and we expect the Albanian authorities to act without delay," a European Commission spokesperson told Politiko, responding to a question about the controversial project.

“In the EU accession process, as part of the final benchmarks for the negotiating Chapter 27 on Environment and Climate Change, Albania is expected to fully align with EU legislation in this area, including the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive,” the spokesperson said, calling on Albania to reverse the amendments to the Law on Protected Areas and repeal the Law on Strategic Investments. As part of the EU accession process, Albania must align its legislation with European environmental rules.

According to Politiko, the spokesperson also said that Albanian Environment Minister Sofjan Jaupaj informed the Commission in Brussels that work on the project has been suspended and that an environmental impact assessment will be carried out with the participation of civil society organizations.

"We have already expressed our concern to the Minister of the Environment about the possible shortcomings of this project," said the spokesperson.

Jaupaj did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The protests, dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution” after the flamingos that inhabit the protected area, intensified over the weekend, with more demonstrators demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Albania’s Special Prosecution Office for the Fight against Corruption and Organized Crime, SPAK, has launched an investigation into controversial changes to the protected area’s status and land ownership in 2024.

“We note that the project is the subject of ongoing investigations by SPAK, which reportedly go beyond environmental issues,” the spokesperson said.

Rama recently told Politiko that there is currently little interest among EU leaders in the political unrest in Albania. In an interview given on the sidelines of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Montenegro on June 5, Rama also said that “if it weren’t for Xhereda, no one would care” about the project.

Albanians in New York, London, Brussels, Milan and Berlin, as well as in other cities in Albania, have joined the demands to stop the project and ensure that the country's natural resources do not fall victim to uncontrolled tourism.

Albania, along with Montenegro, is considered one of the leading candidate countries for EU membership, and Rama has set a goal for the country to join the Union by 2030, with the completion of technical negotiations by the end of 2027.

Increased attention has been focused on amendments to Albania's 2024 Law on Protected Areas, which critics say have opened the door to large-scale construction projects in environmentally sensitive areas. Among them is the Vjosa–Narta protected area, home to a project linked to Jared Kushner, for which an environmental impact assessment has not yet been conducted.

Brussels has been pressuring Tirana for a long time to repeal the 2015 Law on Strategic Investments, because it allows certain projects to undergo accelerated procedures that can bypass EU environmental protection mechanisms, writes Politiko.