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Let's go to the Balkans. Let's go across the narrow stretch of sea from the boot of Italy where sits the Albanian island of Sesan. Once a closed communist military era base, now where visitors and tourists are drawn to its beauty. Look up Sesan on Instagram and this is the sort of thing you find. Suzanis state and its protected marine park is a dreamy place. This is President Trump's daughter talking about on a podcast on Sunday. Ivanka Trump uh was talking about quote building an authentic life. an unbelievable, beautiful, 1400 hector private island in the middle of the Mediterranean. We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands. We went on a
hike barefoot all the way up to the top and we were just captivated and it stayed with us ever since. And over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it. That was 5 days ago that she spoke to the founders podcast. For the past four days, thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets to protest against the plans by the Kushner Trumps to develop the islands to turn it into a luxury hotel resort as well as a longer protected area of Albania's southern coast of Vusa Nata. The plans were first publicly set out by Ivanka's husband Jared Kushman two years ago. But these comments appear to have accelerated the anger and demands for transparency from
the government of the prime minister Eddie Roma. And this is what he said about it today at a meeting of European leaders in Monte Vida. There are no demands to be discussed because there is no yet project approved. Right? So first we need to have the project then to see the project then to discuss the project. Eddie Rama speaking in Montenegro. Let's bring in Arisa Creu an Albanian journalist for the independent media outlet citizens. Based in Albania Aris has reported on the ground on the protest against the construction activity. Welcome to France 24 Arisa.
Great to have you on the program with us. Can you set out for us what you've seen this week in the protest? who's been clashing with who and what's at the heart of this anger. Thank you for having me. As you said before, thousands of citizens uh recently have filled the street and the square of uh Tyrana to protest tourism development project let's say planned for the protected uh Vanarta area which is stretching from Zest to Pishoro um in the city of Laura in the southern of uh of Albania. The protest in fact if we go back how did it start began in Vernets in the southern of Albania and escalated on the May 30 uh because there were
excavators arriving and preparation for um construction uh began by that time uh the RIA has been already surrounded by bulldozers and barbwire fencing and which let's say was completely removed following the protest on June 4th. uh the private security company contracted to uh guard the site uh reacted aggressively and dragging a protester uh across the ground. The incident in fact in fact was occurred in front of the state uh police officer which in fact did not uh intervene and videos a lot of videos uh of this confrontation quickly spread closed the social media triggering widespread public uh outrage and many citizens said that they really felt unprotected by the state policy in the face of action taken
by the private. security personnel. Uh now the protest is shift to the uh prime minister office in Tana and today is the sixth day uh that they are uh protesting. This kind of wave, let's say, of demonstration has become now as the uh flamingo uh revolution because it's kind of a reference to the flamingos that symbolize the ara's rich biodiversity and to the opposition against uh intervention that environmental activists said that could permanently uh transform one of the Albanian's most important uh ecosystem. But why is this uh why is um the RIA such important? Because um Pishorona near the Zets in the Flora city in the south of Albania is part of one of the most Albanian significant coastal
ecosystem. uh the area in fact includes let's say wetlands, lagoons, uh pine forest, habitants for uh migratory birds and the broader uh vio narta landscape. In fact, the ecosystem uh is home to more than 200 bird spaces and many of them are protected and threatened such as flamingos and of course the Delmatian uh the Delmatian pelican. also its importance its extent beyond Albania because uh the RIA is part of the emerald network recognized uh internationally for its uh biodiversity value and is considered a key site for protected spices. What the protester for six days now are demanding are very clear um demands let's say uh and directed to the government. First of all, they are uh demanding for consolation of the project and the
review of all permits uh and the legal ch changes that uh made it let's say possible. Uh the second they are demanding the resignation of the government the whole government not only the uh prime minister Edama. Uh the third they are demanding the repeal of the amendments to the protected area laws. Uh here in 2024 there was there were some changes uh to this law of well let's get to that. Let's get to that for this protection. Let's just go step by step here because you explained that very well. So here we are at the moment. So this was a particular there's two different areas talking about talk of the island and then you have the beautiful coastline as you said with the
flamingos and these are areas that both are under plans Eddie Ramos says not proposals he says plans by the Kushner this is a consortium uh with the Kushner trumps within it and you've basically this is called affinity global it's a consortium which is largely funded by the Saudi government now 2024 the Albanian government declassified the island I believe as from military use December 24 the government granted preliminary approval for this venture by affinity global so this has been known I think Jared Kushner first started talking about this back in 2024 as I mentioned now this weekend there are two things happen so one the construction works started that was the 30th that's Saturday you said you've seen some of
that going on two we saw we had this podcast where people would have seen it was went viral it hit the algorithm of what Ivanka Trump had to say this transformation she wanted to see with care. She said she ordered the best architects to look at this as well. And on the other side of that, the prime minister Eddie Roma says there is no reason to worry about this report. Um he said today there's no project approved but however he said quote the top world exports experts were involved in the plan. They're going to make quote something unique. What do you make of that? Mhm. Uh just to make it uh a little bit clear, there are two different areas. Uh we're talking about the uh Pishoro um Narta near Desernets which is a
protected area and on the other time it is the island of Sazan which is the biggest island in Albania and has become has been before in the communism time a military area. um when um we were getting in touch what is happening uh before it was in 2024 by the photos that were shared to Instagram by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump where also um before one year here in uh in this coastline uh and meet they met a lot of architects and even the prime minister Edama but as uh they are referring that behind this is uh Kushner and Trump but uh what we know on paper is that uh has they has let's say publicly promoted the project but so far we do not have any public u document that show
either he or Ivanka Trump are legally behind uh this kind of project what we know about the project is that it's called Peninsula and I'm not talking about the southern island I'm talking about the protected area that are making the protest And uh it's expecting to be built uh approximately uh hectares including construction on villas, hotels, apartments etc. And the currently the company that is working there is renest adratic uh development and it's uh also uh the project environmental impact assessments uh identify in the other hand the project stakeholders uh through assets group and uh it's owned by one of the billionaire's brothers uh alkayat brother from the power holding and prime minister Edorama said that we do not
have any project yet because there have been discussing on the first project. they do not make um uh let's say they were not okay with the first project and now they are discussing for the other project but it's not uh approve uh let's say any of them yes so we're talking about we approve that are we talking about this is the lands around the NA lagoon this is on the Albanian coastline is that right so and to make a distinction we talked about Suzan before this is stateowned this is what Ivanka Trump was talking about seeing for the first time and the plans that she had to transform it. The Nata Lagoon, this is another beautiful area. We talked about the wildlife. You talked about the incredible kind of migrations from Africa that go on the flamingos there as
well. This is private and it's subject to many legal court cases right now over property rights that are already incredibly complicated. Is that right? Yes. But um they are together in front of let's say Sazana Island is in front of the Lagonas. So but what we have here in Albania is that we from uh 2000 from the year 2015 we have a new uh law which is the law for the strategic investment and it's given uh let's say with the state aim of attracting the major uh investment and promoting the economic development and what we know so far is that from 2025 from January uh Jared Kushner has this status of the uh strategic investing uh so uh from that
year and now he's being um uh discussion with the Albanian government regarding the plans to develop uh luxury tour tourism uh project in the southern island and uh which is located opposite the zets area that's what we know from uh till now let's say because there is nothing um approved or any project later approved but what prime minister Rama that u said that we aim to uh make the tourism in Albania elier right now we are not going anymore to say no to this kind of uh big uh project so uh he has seen this contradictory let's say this opposition from the citizens uh as a way to stop the building or to stop to contribute to the Albanian economy because he see this kind of Albanian um
I mean elite tourism to the Albania as the way to contribute to the Albanian economy and if we look what to the field. Yes. If we look Erica of what Eddie Rama had to say I think he's famously quoted isn't he as saying that Albania needs tourism like a desert needs water. Now if you look at you talk about some of the concerns transparency being key here people wanting to know okay if there are no proposals but there are plans what does that mean set out for us in writing what is going on? And there's another part of the region I touched upon which is about the lagoon area with all of these animals that we saw before some of this area. Am I right to say that after the second world war the communist
government took the private land off people around there. They made it stateowned and then in 1991 the democracy the government gave the land to the villages to share. So if you had land that was 100 hectares and you had 100 villages, they'd have a hectare each rather than give it back to the previous land owners. So this is adding to those ongoing protests and ongoing issues having these billionaire investors here. Mhm. Um I mean it has been a private one but then uh they have a lot of problems with uh lands there because there are people living there the locals one and also there are uh the foreign like say interest to develop uh to develop the
the country. But uh as has happened rec I mean in the years after the communism fell in Albania they we have uh a big uh problem with the with the land properties because uh they have falsificate a lot of uh land properties and so not everyone which has had the land now has the right to their own uh land. what we've seen to the lagoon is that uh it's a public uh land a public property but also a private one. So um there is a kind of a discussion if uh should it be built there or not. But what we see recently is the lack of transparency by the government for every uh building, every construction, every project big one that are being uh built or they do find their uh place to be built in this uh area.
Is there I mean is at the heart of these protests how is it spreading? Does it have an organizer or is this something by social media people are gathering particularly this week? Mhm. Um in fact what I've seen all these days uh there are thousand of people without any leader let's say and there is no uh political uh affiliation I have seen uh young men and women young families with their children um and um it's only let's say political affiliation is to protect the environment is to protect the protected and the need for uh transparency for every project that is uh developed in this uh country. Um the protest itself let's say uh reflect broader uh public concern about governance uh about
transparency about environmental protection and the uh management of the public uh resources. It's not it seems like it's not it started with the NARA uh and with Zet and with Sazan which is going on but it's seem that it's not kind of isolated case of NARA it had brought together uh people affected by similar issue from uh north to uh sud of Albania um environmental activists young people and many of course ordinary people um what it's importantly to say is that it's a protest uh of supporter. Uh it's a protest with no supporters from the two major uh political uh party. Even the messages that they spread through the megaphone and with the punk cards and with a lot of memes
around the um social channels that they use and they printed and uh reflected on the on the marsh from t from the scanderback square to the uh office of the prime minister where to uh transparency and to cancel all the project uh and the change that had made uh it possible and to review all these kind of permits that part of the voices you're hearing side with so glance. Yes. Is that part of the protest that you're hearing? People want to they're calling as you said before not just about transparency but for the removal of Eddie Rama and you're you know the accusation that it and we've heard this before that there is state capture in Albania. And it is worth saying the response from Eddie Rama who's in as I mentioned Montenegro today
there's a summit with EU leaders for the Balkan states. He said that he's denied there is a Trump family island connection. He's denied they'll be used to house Palestinians under a plan with Israel which I think there had been some reports or that he's giving the Kushner's preferential treatment a curry favor with the White House. He's also said there is quote not a chance this investment would stop as long as I'm here. What are you making of that? And also this these reports, how widespread is it when you speak to protesters that are think are suggesting that there's some plan with Israel tied to this?
Uh I don't know what to say in this case because he said that uh everything will be done and uh until we have a project we will discuss and then we will make it clear even to you. But what we've seen during these years it was the lack of uh transparency as we said. We know that Albania now is currently in the uh session negotiation with the European Union and we know also that the chapter 27 uh it's the environmental uh and the climate one is one of the most sensitive condition uh in Albanian stock with uh with the EU and what we've been reporting recently uh is the idea that the is that the European Commission by itself had states that uh in fact the country must fully allow ly with
the uh with the EU legis uh legislation uh including the bird directive including the habitants uh directive and also they have uh repeals provision that are inco uh incompatible with the law of protected uh area. So EU has said that if you cannot change you have to change the law that you changed before in 2024 about the protected area and even the environmental activist has argued that the government in fact is rushing this kind of uh tourism project so that by the time that is required to uh appeal the provision of the protected um uh areas law in line with the uh EU demands the investment then will be let's say fade to comply. So Arisa we will come back to you we will follow this as these protests continue.
Good to talk to you for now. Thank you Arisa. Arisa Crizza from Citizen.
