Description: Thousands of Albanian citizens rose in protest against the project on the Zvernec Peninsula connected to President Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner. The project came under scrutiny from environmental, civil and political activists due to issues with investment transparency, endangering the unique environmental peninsula and exporting domestic tourism potential to large business consortiums. The Pishe Poro–Narta region is environmentally specific and hosts a variety of flora and fauna species including migratory birds such as Flamingoes. The region was expected to fall under the Natura 2000 environment law in the EU once Albania engaged in accession talks with the Union. Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners company is the major investment vehicle for the project which Prime Minister Edi Rama has labeled successful and necessary for the Albanian tourism sector. Rama also added that protests were supported by the Greek government which aims to downsize Albania’s regional tourism outreach.
Impact: Prime Minister Rama’s insistence of developing the luxury tourism resort in the environmentally contested are would likely enhance the scope and the intensity of the protests in the immediate term. The scrutiny surrounding transparency issues would likely position the project in the legislative halls of the country, further increasing the pressure on the development initiative. Rama would likely be faced with a difficult choice of whether to proceed with the project on the backdrop of EU criticism and public outrage, being faced with his own corruption charges that sparked protest late last year. The project is unlikely to deter Albania’s progress in its EU accession talks, however, considering the environmental and regulatory requirements of the Natura 2000, coupled with the level of public outrage, the project can backtrack large portions of the legislative and regulatory progress the country has made in recent months. The protests would likely continue in the short – term, depending on the government’s decisions to proceed with the project and the disclosure of documents related to the investors.