In southwestern Albania on the Balkan Peninsula, a large luxury resort development plan has sparked intense opposition. The project involves the investment company of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and the planned site is known as a habitat for rare species such as flamingos, seals, and sea turtles. In the capital Tirana, demonstrations are held almost daily, and protesters can be heard voicing their opposition with slogans such as “Albania is not for sale”.

The development plan is expected to cost 1.6 billion U.S. dollars and will build accommodations with 10,000 rooms. Kushner unveiled the plan in 2024 and visited the site in January 2026 together with his wife Ivanka Trump (President Trump’s daughter).

In the summer of 2021, while cruising the Mediterranean on the yacht of a billionaire from the British Rothschild family, Kushner met and hit it off with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. He also came to appreciate the country’s natural environment and is said to have decided to invest in resort development.

However, Sazan Island, the planned construction site, and the surrounding coastline are among the environmentally most vulnerable areas in the Mediterranean. It is one of the few remaining refuges of the Mediterranean monk seal, and a habitat for more than 200 bird species, including flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, many of which are endangered.

In late May 2026, the developer fenced off part of the planned site with barbed wire, leading to clashes between local residents and private security guards. Land clearing and the delivery of heavy machinery began, igniting the protest movement. Pink flamingos became the symbol of the movement, and demonstrators in Tirana carried flamingo dolls and placards. In addition to threatening the habitats of rare species, criticism has focused on the lack of transparency surrounding the project.

Prime Minister Rama, however, is backing the plan. According to the BBC, he dismisses the protests as being “based on misinformation” about environmental issues and stresses that the resort development will bring enormous benefits to the country, including job creation and infrastructure development.

Yet it remains unclear whether things will proceed as planned. According to political news site Politico and Albanian environmental NGO PPNEA, the proposed site includes several hundred hectares of protected landscape area. A 2024 legal amendment by the Albanian government made resort development possible there. However, the amendment has been criticized as violating international conservation standards, and Albania’s Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK) has launched an investigation.

In fact, at the beginning of 2026 Kushner was forced to withdraw from a planned hotel construction project in Serbia. The project faced fierce local opposition, and a government minister was arrested for abuse of office. The BBC notes that the current situation in Albania is “a déjà vu event” for Kushner.

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Scene from the protest in the capital Tirana, June 4 (Photo: Kanal13 / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY 4.0])