Albania warned EU accession at risk over Jared Kushner-backed resort plans

A luxury resort is planned at the Vjosa-Narta protected wetland landscape in Zvërnec by a company linked to Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Photograph: Florion Goga/Reuters View image in fullscreen A luxury resort is planned at the Vjosa-Narta protected wetland landscape in Zvërnec by a company linked to Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Photograph: Florion Goga/Reuters Albania warned EU accession at risk over Jared Kushner-backed resort plans Proposed development of protected shorelines and wildlife zones violates EU environmental policy, says MEP ‘We want a new Albania’: protests against Jared Kushner-backed resort turn anger on government Read more MEPs have warned Albania that EU accession talks are at risk if the government does not “change course” over plans for a luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner . Tineke Strik, the Dutch MEP heading a European parliament fact-finding mission to the Balkan nation, said Albania’s leadership was “playing with fire” by pursuing the €1.4bn (£1.2bn) real-estate venture that would, she said, wreak havoc on virgin coastline. Opposition to the project has spurred a wave of unprecedented unrest known as the “flamingo revolution” amid mounting calls for the resignation of the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama. “If Rama is really serious about his EU ambitions, he should step back from this trajectory and say to the Trump clan, ‘sorry, the EU is my first priority’,” Strik told the Guardian. “Right now, they’re endangering a process that is so dear to them … They’re playing with fire.” View image in fullscreen Protesters gather at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana on Tuesday, the 31st day of protests over the planned tourism project, with calls for the resignation of the Albanian prime minister, Edi Rama. Photograph: Olsi Shehu/Anadolu/Getty Images Outrage in Albania over Kushner-Trump $1.6bn luxury resort – The Latest Read more Not since the collapse of communism more than 30 years ago has any policy attracted such overwhelming support from Albanian citizens as EU membership: an estimated 92% back the goal. Rama, who won a historic fourth term in office last year, has vowed to get Albania – one of the poorest countries in Europe – into the 27-member bloc by 2030. Buoyed up by progress made in completing often complex negotiations, he had set the goal of December 2027 to wrap up an accession process. EU officials had welcomed the self-imposed deadline, although they described it as ambitious. That timeline could now be in jeopardy if Rama insists on pressing ahead with the Kushner-backed project to develop what were once environmentally protected areas in the country’s south. View image in fullscreen A beach on Sazan island. Photograph: Atdhe Mulla/Bloomberg/Getty Images Kushner has spoken of creating a mega resort on Sazan, Albania’s only island, while also building along a slice of pristine shoreline on the Zvërnec peninsula opposite, billing it as the sort of place he would h