The European Commission has issued a veiled warning to the Albanian government over a €1.4 billion real-estate project linked to US President Donald Trump’s family, as protests over the plans for an ecologically protected area on the Adriatic coast enter their second week.
Responding to a question by Euronews on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the EU executive urged Albanian authorities to “act without delay” in order to avoid jeopardising the country’s bid to join the EU, which will require it to align with the bloc’s environmental rules.
“Albania should refrain from actions that could undermine the fulfilment of the closing benchmark, in this case Chapter 27, and so we expect the Albanian authorities to act without any delay,” spokesperson Guillaume Mercier said, referring to the chapter of EU accession talks which requires a candidate country to align with environmental rules.
He added that the Commission has “expressed concerns to (Albania’s) Minister of the Environment about the potential shortcomings of the project,” and that the minister had assured Brussels that construction work has been “suspended”.
Yet Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has defended the project, telling Euronews on Friday that resistance to the plans formed part of a “hybrid war” wielded by actors that are “using the sentiments of some well-meaning people about the environment.”
Demonstrators have gathered in Albania’s capital of Tirana and the protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon on the country’s Adriatic coast for the past nine days, demanding the cancellation of aluxury real-estate project planned for an ecologically protected coastal area.
The pink flamingo, one of the species threatened by the plans, has emerged as a symbol of the resistance, with protesters seen wielding inflatable versions of the animal, many of them calling for Prime Minister Rama’s resignation.
The plans would involve two protected areas: the Narta Lagoon area, a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on the uninhabited island of Sazan. Affinity Partners, the investment firm behind the project which has been granted special access by the Albanian authorities, is linked to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
His wife, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, described to an US podcast show last week how she and her husband had discovered Sazan island.
“We were on a friend’s boat, and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that’s how we found it,” Ivanka Trump said. “We swam to the island. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.”
‘Concerns are not new’
A 2015 Albanian law on strategic investments, which Brussels has long called for to be scrapped, is believed to have made it possible for the investment firm linked to Kushner to acquire special authority.
In its annual temperature check of candidate countries’ progress towards becoming EU members last year, Brussels raised concerns about an amendment made to the law in February 2025 which included special exemptions for any investment worth €50 million or more.
“While these measures are designed to boost economic activity, they have also raised concerns about transparency and equitable access, favouritism and lack of competitive processes,” the Commission’s report said.
In the same report, Brussels cautioned Albania against amendments to a law on protected areas which had led to the “unravelling of their protection”, raising concerns over environmental crimes.
Crucially, Albania is considered a frontrunner behind Montenegro in its bid to join the EU. Accession negotiations, which are split into 33 chapters under four thematic clusters, are currently ongoing, including on the chapter related to environmental standards.
Closing the chapter will be critical if the country is to sustain its momentum in its accession bid.
The project is currently being probed by Albania’s independent anti-corruption and anti-mafia prosecution body, SPAK. The agency is believed to be investigating changes made to a 2024 Albanian law which removed long-standing protections from the country’s most sensitive ecosystems.