Albania PM Backs Kushner’s $5B Resort Despite Protests

Jared Kushner’s ambitions in Albania are getting a forceful endorsement from the country’s top political leader, even as protests over one of the proposed developments intensify.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Monday defended a planned €4 billion luxury resort tied to Kushner’s investment platform, rejecting calls to halt preliminary work on a stretch of the Adriatic coast that environmental activists say should remain protected, Bloomberg reported. Rama framed the project as a transformational investment capable of elevating Albania’s tourism sector and attracting wealthier international visitors.

The mainland development is one of two major Albanian resort projects announced by Kushner, whose firm has spent the past several years pursuing hospitality and mixed-use opportunities across the Balkans. Plans call for luxury hotels and hundreds of villas along the coast.

A separate Kushner-linked venture has also secured strategic-investor status for a €1.4 billion resort proposal on Sazan Island, a former military outpost and the country’s largest island.

The projects have become a flashpoint in Albania, where critics argue the developments threaten environmentally sensitive landscapes and raise unresolved questions about land ownership and government approvals. Opposition has mounted in recent months as site preparation began in an area known as a key habitat for migratory birds, including flamingos.

Tensions boiled over this weekend when demonstrators confronted private security at the project site. Video showing a protester being dragged away spread widely on social media, helping fuel additional demonstrations in the capital city of Tirana.

Activists demanded an investigation into the incident and called on authorities to suspend construction activity in protected areas.

In an effort to decouple his administration from the clash, Rama asserted that individuals who committed violence against the demonstrators ought to have been taken into custody.

He also pushed back against allegations that public land was being transferred to private interests, arguing that Sazan Island remains state-owned and that the government intends to participate as a partner in the project. The mainland resort, he said, is being developed on land acquired from private owners.

The controversy arrives as Kushner’s Balkan expansion faces increased scrutiny. Earlier this year, a separate Trump family-linked development in Belgrade fell apart after Kushner withdrew from a controversial hotel project in Belgrade, Serbia, following the indictment of a cabinet minister and three officials involved in the development; the officials were indicted for abuse of position and falsifying documents.

— Holden Walter-Warner