“I am a strong believer in a sustainable model of development,” Silvio Gonzato, the EU’s ambassador to Albania, told POLITICO. “So it breaks my heart sometimes to see the things that have been done because I recognize the same stupid mistakes that we made in Italy, in other parts of Europe, maybe in Romania,” he said.
“We’ve been advocating that you cannot, again, ask member states to grant you a 10-year [exemption] from EU rules in the environmental sector and then pursue a model of development that aggravates the problems,” said Gonzato.
Albania has passed controversial laws on strategic investments and protected areas that environmental organizations and demonstrators say were designed to boost the tourism sector and clear the way for projects like Kushner’s. The EU has warned that if Tirana continues in this direction, its chances of closing the environmental chapter of accession talks could move further out of reach.
Gabriel Schwaderer, executive director of EuroNatur, said the government’s timeline had fueled suspicions that Tirana was trying to push through as many tourism projects as possible before EU accession forces it to comply with stricter environmental rules. “I would very much love to say and think differently, but at the moment that is what the government’s actions are suggesting,” he said.
In Vlorë, Kushner’s resort plans are not the only controversial projects. Further inland, across the lagoon, Vlorë Airport has already become a symbol of the same development model: projects pushed through in sensitive ecosystems amid allegations of opaque procedures and favoritism. The airport was set to open in 2025, but has been delayed and is now entangled in a legal dispute between shareholders and the Albanian state.
Kushner and his wife also have plans to turn the country’s only island, Sazan, into a luxury resort. But Agron Shehaj, who sits in his pick-up truck with a beach chair after going for a swim, says that no one in Vlorë welcomes any of their plans.