Eastern Europe Map

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

TIRANA/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Albania’s prime minister has warned protesters that the fate of a massive tourism project linked to the family of U.S. President Donald J. Trump will be determined by an environmental impact assessment, not by “streets and ideology.”

Prime Minister Edi Rama’s comments followed months of demonstrations against plans for luxury development in the protected coastal area of Zvërnec in southwestern Albania. The controversial tourism project has been valued at more than 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion), while Rama said planned developments on the Zvërnec Peninsula and nearby Sazan Island could together exceed 6 billion euros ($7 billion).

The developments are linked to Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, whose investment firm Affinity Partners is behind the resort plans. Kushner has also advised Trump and participated in diplomatic negotiations on behalf of his administration.

Speaking at the Euronews Travel & Tourism Summit 2026 in Brussels, Rama defended Albania’s drive to attract luxury tourism investment, arguing that such projects could help transform the economy of the former communist nation.

PROTESTERS OPPOSE PROJECT

Rama said his government needed to attract investment to address the country’s needs and provide Albanians with “a much better life, bigger salaries, better services.”

Demonstrators have repeatedly taken to the streets of Tirana and protested near the planned development, with environmental campaigners warning that construction could damage protected ecosystems and habitats around the Vjosa-Narta Lagoon. Some protesters have also demanded Rama’s resignation.

The planned development involves Zvërnec and Sazan Island, an uninhabited former communist military base. Plans have included luxury hotels, apartments, villas and a marina, while pink flamingos living around the lagoon have become a symbol of the opposition movement.

Rama insists environmental concerns will be examined through established procedures rather than decided by political pressure from the streets. He has said that a final project must undergo an environmental impact assessment before authorities decide whether it can proceed.

EU ACCESSION PRESSURE

Albania, considered among the frontrunners for European Union membership, has assured Brussels that the development will comply with EU environmental standards.

The EU’s executive European Commission has warned Tirana to avoid actions that could undermine its accession process, which requires Albania to align its laws and practices with EU environmental protections.

The dispute comes as Albania experiences a remarkable tourism boom. International arrivals reached 11.9 million in 2025, up 93.6 percent from 2019, according to UN Tourism figures cited by Euronews.

Rama described his country as having once been the “North Korea of Europe,” recalling its extreme isolation under communist dictator Enver Hoxha.

HIGH-END TOURISM PUSH

“We are not the Black Hole of Europe — we are the shining little jewel of Europe,” Rama told the Brussels summit, saying Albania now wanted to attract more affluent visitors and high-end international hotel groups.

He acknowledged that the rapid growth of lower- and middle-income tourism could place significant pressure on Albania’s infrastructure, environment and public services, arguing that wealthier visitors could generate more revenue with less pressure on the country.

Rama said Albania therefore wanted major international investors as well as partnerships and Albanian companies to participate in the development of luxury tourism.

He said the combined Sazan Island and Zvërnec projects could eventually exceed 6 billion euros ($7 billion), potentially making them among Europe’s largest tourism investments in years.

COMMUNIST PAST REMEMBERED

Yet the transformation carries particular historical significance in a country that, little more than three decades ago, emerged from one of Europe’s most repressive communist regimes.

In 1967, Enver Hoxha’s Communist government proclaimed Albania “the world’s first atheist state” and launched an extraordinary campaign to eradicate religious life. Churches and monasteries were closed, confiscated, destroyed or converted to other uses, as were mosques and other religious institutions.

Religious leaders were persecuted, imprisoned and, in some cases, executed. Christians were among those severely persecuted, with churches closed or destroyed, clergy imprisoned or killed, religious literature banned and expressions of faith punishable by the authorities.

Other religious communities, including observant Muslims, were also targeted as the communist government sought to eliminate organized religion altogether.

FAITH SURVIVES COMMUNISM

At the time of Albania’s transition from communism, a Worthy News reporter spoke with Christian survivors of a communist-era labor camp who recalled the suffering they endured under the regime and expressed hope that political change would bring a freer and better future.

Religious freedom returned as communist rule collapsed around 1990-91, followed by the reopening and rebuilding of churches and other houses of worship across the country.

Decades later, Albania is seeking to join the 27-nation European Union after already becoming a member of the NATO military alliance in 2009.

Albania’s current transformation from an isolated state that once claimed to be the world’s first atheist nation into one of Europe’s fastest-growing tourism destinations therefore comes more than three decades after the country shrugged off decades of communist rule — and after persecuted believers expressed hope that freedom would eventually bring a better future.

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