Trump family-linked mega-resort splits Albania: tourism boom or a sold-off coast?
A €1.4bn luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners — on Albania's Sazan island and the protected Vjosa-Narta lagoon — has triggered mass protests and an anti-corruption probe. The government calls it a once-in-a-generation investment; opponents call it a stolen, protected coast.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
PM Edi Rama defends the project as an 'extraordinary investment' (backed by Qatari money) that will modernise tourism, create jobs and lift Albania into the 'Champions League' of global travel — a legal, strategic bet for a country with 450km of undeveloped coast and a faster path toward the EU.
Conservationists and protesters say the resort is bulldozing a legally protected wetland — home to flamingos, monk seals and sea turtles — with no environmental assessment or public consultation, and accuse the government of bending the law to favour the US president's son-in-law. Anti-corruption prosecutors (SPAK) are investigating and have frozen assets.