FLASH
Shkruar nga Konrad Kramar
Albania is leading the race for EU membership. The natural beauty of its untouched coastline is under threat, in part because all doors are being opened to investors...
As dusk falls, the dunes of Vlora belong to flamingos once again. Flocks of them form long lines in the sky, while noise fills the air. The noise of cement mixers and truck engines has given way to nature once again, at least for a few hours.
"Tomorrow, they will again cross the newly opened concrete runway of the new airport, which is being built in the nature reserve."
"They are in a big hurry," says Joni from the environmental organization PPNEA, emphasizing, "The government wants to establish facts on the ground and for that, they need a lot of concrete."
Establishing facts on the ground is indeed what they want, as every decision-maker in Albania makes clear, down to the almost all-powerful political figure of the small country between the Balkans and the Adriatic: Prime Minister Edi Rama.
"The airport will be finished within a year," he says emphatically in an interview with Kurier. International investors are already lining up behind him.
Most notable among them is Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The 44-year-old has major real estate projects under development across the Balkans, one of the largest being built near Vlora, in southern Albania. Kushner has discovered a 15-kilometer stretch of coastline here, including an island once used by the military leaders of the Stalinist regime.
Where dunes, strips of forest and rocky cliffs alternate today, 10,000 housing units are planned for the near future: hotels, apartments and all this, as Kushner succinctly put it, is "concrete construction in Albania."
But the area is too fragile to withstand the onslaught, Albanian environmentalists say. This coastal landscape was shaped not only by the sea but also by the Vjosa River. It flows into the sea here, creating the last intact delta in Europe. It is home not only to some 7,000 flamingos but also to hundreds of other endangered bird species. Despite this, politicians easily paved the way for Kushner and the nation’s other donors. A comprehensive reform of environmental laws was practically tailor-made for them. It does not shy away from absurdities, such as allowing the construction of tourist facilities in nature reserves if they meet five-star standards and show consideration for the local environment.
"This reform is a joke," says Silvio Gonzato, the EU ambassador to Albania, quite bluntly for a diplomat.
Austrian MEP Andreas Schieder (SPÖ) is equally critical.
As a rapporteur for the EU Parliament, he has followed Albania's path towards the EU for years, is aware of the impressive economic and political progress the country has made, but also of the negative aspects, which Brussels often ignores.
Foreign money has been flowing into Albania for years, but its sources are often difficult to trace.
For example, Vlora Airport is supported by corporate groups from Kosovo and neighboring Switzerland.
There have been rapid and economically illogical changes in the ownership structure. Most notably, the Albanian government announced in 2023 that the airport was completed. However, a quick look at the construction site, even just a glance beyond the barbed wire fence, makes it immediately clear that it is far from finished. The European Parliament called for a halt to the airport’s construction in 2023.
In the latest EU reports on candidate countries, expected to be published this week, problems with environmental protection are openly highlighted.
"The government in Tirana is completely underestimating the importance of environmental issues for EU membership," says parliamentarian Schieder.
Even more direct is the Albanian opposition. MP Jorida Tabaku, who has been dealing with Albania-EU relations for years, says it clearly: "The government makes beautiful and well-curated presentations, but they have no connection with the reality in the country." According to her, the European Union should take a closer look, and not just mark every chapter of the negotiations with a "v".
But in Brussels, they only want to see a success story, complains environmentalist Joni, who himself traveled to Belgium to describe the impending destruction of the Vlora nature reserve to EU representatives: “but, they are working at full speed on the construction site.”
To stop the project or at least redesign it, much clearer words are needed from the EU Commission, which is conducting accession negotiations.
Schieder hopes that Albania will not harm itself in its race towards the EU: "because the development of clean coastal landscapes could end quickly, if there are no more left." /Adapted from Kurier/
Jashte qelbesirat ruso-cifute nga trojet Shqiptare, jashte.
O Toni Mencur, Ruset dhe Cifutet po perplasen kunder njeri-tjetrit ne Ukrahine. Ukrahinasit jane shume inteligjente, si Shqiptaret ! ;p