EU Warns Albania Over 2024 Conservation Law as 96 Groups Fight Wetland Resort

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 12

Tuesday’s warning from the European Commission told Albania to act “without delay” on environmental rules and avoid steps that could damage its EU membership bid.
Ninety-six civil society organizations the same day urged parliament to repeal a 2024 amendment that opened protected areas to five-star hotels, tying the dispute directly to accession risks.
Nearly two weeks of protests have followed fencing, heavy machinery and survey work in the Vjosa-Narta wetland linked to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s planned luxury resort, though the project lacks planning permission and an environmental impact assessment.
Scientists say the delta hosts 2,529 species, including 279 internationally threatened ones, and warn roads, dunes damage and resort traffic could disrupt one of the Mediterranean’s least-altered coastal ecosystems.
Albania, which hopes to join the EU by 2030, is balancing a tourism boom that drew 12 million visitors in 2025 against mounting scrutiny over whether development is overriding environmental protection.