What are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump up to in Albania?

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

0:30business needs in one place, saving you time, headaches, and serious money. Stop paying for missing pieces. Go to odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com to learn more. With the new Schwab Teen Investor Account, teens can gain hands-on investing experience and build positive money habits. It's an account co-owned by you and your teen, so you can monitor and engage with the account while your teen learns how to invest and manage money. Learn more at schwab.com. Have you ever seen the Tom Hanks movie, The Money Pit? It's an 80s classic. So Hanks and his on-screen girlfriend, who's played by Shelley Long from Cheers, so they buy what they think is their dream home.

1:15And it's this million-dollar mansion, and it's on the market for 200 grand. But there's a reason for this, because they find out pretty quickly that the house is a nightmare. It's falling apart. And no matter how much money they pour into the problem, new things keep cropping up. And it ends up really costing them. Now, something a bit like that is happening right now in Albania, in Southern Europe. Except instead of Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, it's Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. And instead of the staircase collapsing and the bar falling through the floor... I just want to relax. A nice lukewarm bath.

2:02On their hands, they've got thousands of protesters, some unexploded munitions, and a protected population of flamingos. And some people in Albania are so upset about this, it could even bring down the government.

2:24From the BBC, I'm Tristan Redman. And today on The Global Story, why are Albanians furious with Jared and Ivanka?

2:43My name is Emily Wither and I'm a journalist based in Istanbul. And I recently went to Albania and made a documentary about this luxury tourism resort on Albania's coast. Well, Emily, it's so great to have you with us. Albania is a fascinating place and this is a fascinating story. What are the scenes in the capital, Tirana, right now? Yes, so these are huge protests that we've been seeing in the capital, Tirana. And they've just been building since the end of May.

3:19They're being called the Flamingo Revolution because this part of the coast that's going to be reportedly developed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's firm Affinity Partners is home to thousands of flamingos. So you see protesters on the streets holding the pink flamingo high in the air.

3:42And the socialist prime minister, Eddie Rama, who's been in power since 2013, he is sticking to his plans. The high end finally will be built. He says despite these huge protests in the capital, he's going to move ahead with the project. To create a balance between the mass tourism, which has been a great ambassador of the country, but which cannot be the force on which the country relies, to high-end tourism where less people can bring more money. So he's not backing down, but neither are the protesters. And we've just seen now, night after night since the end of May, thousands of people out on the streets, outside his office, calling for him to resign.

4:33And these protests, they're very much directed at people in power. So Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Ivanka is a key figure who is being mentioned at these protests. So a lot of the signs say, Ivanka, Albania is not for sale. Ivanka, Albanians do it better. There was one that caught my eye, which said that Albanians don't want rich kids to steal what is mine. So they see this as an issue with their government and how the government is selling off land to the highest bidder. Protests night after night, as you say, with thousands of people, that's quite rare. What sparked this? So this is all about a development on Albania's coast and on an island, a luxury tourism development that could completely change the area.

5:20And this is an area of ecological importance. This has been rumoured for some time, but no building work had started. And then at the end of May, some barbed wire fencing started appearing on one of the beaches. And so a small group of protesters went down to this fence. And they were protesting about the potential beginning of this big construction project that's being led and backed by Jared Kushner's firm. And the private security that was at this fence, they reacted very violently to the protesters.

5:58They dragged the protesters away. There were very violent scenes and clashes. clashes. And that was all caught on camera. And those videos started to spread across Albania. The fence has now been removed and Prime Minister Eddie Rama has conceded that it was, quote, a disgraceful idea to put it up. But by then, Tristan, it was too late. The video had already been shared. The anger was there. And then we started to see these protests building on the streets of the capital, Tirana. Why did Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump want to invest in Albania of all places? Albania is an absolutely fascinating country and it has miles and miles of unspoilt coastline, almost by accident, because it was one of the most isolated countries in the world during the communist period that ended in 1991.

7:00It was kind of known as the North Korea of Europe. So when you have other countries in the area, so just across from Albania is Italy, and then to the south of Albania is Greece, you have huge amounts of tourism. And you just don't see that in Albania because for so long, it was so cut off from the world. It's now very much opened up. There are huge tourism projects happening all across the country. And we first, you know, heard about Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner discovering this area a couple of years ago when they were sailing on a yacht. We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim.

7:39Effectively, that's how we found it. They went to this island just off the coast of Valora, which is the third largest city of Albania, a couple of hours from the capital. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated. And she talks about how beautiful it was, how she couldn't stop thinking about it. Over the course of many years, we developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful that really the architecture has to be fully integrated into it, almost rise from it.

8:19And the way Ivanka Trump speaks about discovering this island off Albania, it was like she had some kind of spiritual moment when she was on this yacht. She discovered this island, which has angered Albanians slightly because it's an important part of their history. And then Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner met with the prime minister, Eddie Rama, who joined them on his yacht. One of the nights there, Prime Minister Rama came to the boat. I had not met him when I was in government, but I was very, very impressed with his vision for what he wanted to do with Albania. Kushner's made it really clear he didn't meet Eddie Rama when he was in government, but he met them about two years ago.

8:57And that's when this project was really green lit. How does this go, though, from a transcendental moment on a yacht to actually becoming a kind of concrete proposal for a hotel development? So Tristan, this is so much more than a hotel. This is a major, major development. First, you've got these luxury villas being built on this abandoned island. But then the real mega project of blueprints that we've seen is just across from this island in a stretch of coast and in a protected lagoon. And it's an area that really has everything. You could totally see why investors would see it as a crown jewel.

9:37because you have pine forests, rolling olive groves. You have this protected lagoon with flamingos with a wooden boardwalk running across it. You then have more forests. And after that, you have sand dunes and a long stretch of beach. And the blueprints and rendering show this entire area being so transformed, it's barely recognisable. If the lagoon is protected, how could anyone build on it? Yeah, so that's a really good question. and that all revolves in a change of law that happened in 2024. So the government changed its investment rules to make it easier for large projects to qualify as strategic investments.

10:20And this was round about the time when Kushner's project received this strategic investor status. And there's been a bit of raised eyebrows about the timing of that. The government have been clear that it was just a coincidence. This was not done for the Kushner project. But essentially what it does is allow some building in these protected areas of ecological importance and it fast tracks big tourism projects with less oversight, essentially. So these are areas previously where it would have been illegal to build in. And just so as I understand the timeline, the law change on the one hand and Ivanka and Jared's transcendental moment when they first discovered this island and set foot on the beach.

11:04When do each of these occur? So they discovered this island shortly before the change in law and then the project was greenlit. And so that has also caused some speculation among protesters that this law was specifically set up to benefit this project. That's been denied by all parties. But yeah, the timing has not gone unnoticed by some of the people out on the streets. And the first locals really heard about and Albanians really heard about what was happening was when renderings and blueprints started to be shared on the social media pages of Jared Kushner and his investment business, Affinity Partners.

11:43And so people hadn't really heard anything about it beforehand. They knew that it was being discussed, that this project had been potentially greenlit. And then the next thing they know that they're looking at these potential renderings. So it was a big shock to a lot of people and really baffled some of the locals. What's this island actually like? Does it live up to Ivanka's belief that once seen, you can't stop thinking about it? This is definitely a very beautiful island because it's wild. There's nothing really on it. It's got really lush vegetation, turquoise waters, but it was also once a Cold War military outpost.

12:26So the island is covered in unexploded ordnance. If you try and walk around it or go off the path, there are signs warning you of landmines. So people in Albania and locals have always felt that building on Cezanne Island is going to be a real heavy lift because there's no infrastructure. There's no ability to remove sewage or proper running water or electricity. Plus, you have to clear the island of all of this unexploded ordnance. So that's going to be really difficult. And the feeling was that that project might not actually happen. But what would happen is that just across from this island, in this coastal area and this protected lagoon, that is where the building work was going to start.

13:07And this is where there seems to be some kind of movement. And actually, when Ivanka Trump visited Albania in January, she didn't go to Suzanne Island, the island that she loved and walked across barefoot. She went to Svinets, to the Nata Lagoon. And it was there that she stepped onto the beach with reportedly 100 architects, developers, surveyors. But the locals were completely kept away, they said. The whole visit was shrouded in secrecy. There were tents and cordons set up and fences, and they weren't able to get near. I should also say that in her visit in January, she had a lunch with Prime Minister Eddie Rama, and they were celebrating.

13:48The restaurant owner who hosted them said that they were toasting over wine. So that's, you know, added to the speculation that the building work is about to start happening in Svanets, in this protected lagoon area. What have the Prime Minister, Eddie Rama, and his government said about it when asked? He has given interviews this week and he has come out fighting for this project. He has said that it will go ahead as long as he is in office. Rama has also said that the protesters are well-meaning, but they're misinformed about the potential environmental impact. He's also insisted that the project's going to bring massive benefits to Albania when it comes to jobs and improved infrastructure.

14:29And, you know, that is something that I really noticed when I was there. You have this village in the area of Zanets next to the lagoon, and it's completely populated by old people. It's just full of pensioners. All the young people have left. and that is a problem in Albania that so many young people leave the country in search of better work opportunities. So there is an argument that a big tourism project like this could bring huge opportunities to the area and bring young people back. Do we have any sense, Emily, of how much this project could be worth to the Albanian economy? So the Prime Minister, Eddie Rama, says that it's going to bring in 4 billion euros worth of investment.

15:14And in a country like Albania, which is one of the poorest in Europe, that is a big deal. Four billion euros, that's almost five billion dollars. As a proportion of the Albanian economy, that's significant. The World Bank says that the Albanian economy in 2024 was worth a bit less than 30 billion dollars a year. So that's almost 20 percent of the Albanian economy. That's a huge amount, isn't it? Yeah, it's a big deal. And this is exactly the sort of project that Prime Minister Eddie Rama wants for the country. He said in the past that we need luxury tourism like a desert needs water, and that what 400 yachts can generate is equal to what can be earned from 40 ,000 low-cost visitors.

16:00Emi, I'm no luxury tourist, but imagine I were. It's quite difficult to lure a different type of tourist, a very high-end tourist, to a place that is not known for it. How do they propose to lure people to Albania, which isn't known for that kind of tourism? Well, it is increasingly known for that kind of tourism in recent years. And I also think they will sell it as a hot new destination. And Eddie Rama is likely calculating that if he has these kinds of big names behind a project like this, you're going to attract more people. Jared Kushner has said in interviews that he's expecting people that he knows to hear about this project through him.

16:46We're really trying to design this in a way to be a place that we would want to be, a place that we would want to spend the summer. And as I tell different friends and I show them different renderings of what we're doing, they all say, oh, can we get a place there next to you? So I think the government will be strategically thinking here that they can also trade on the name. because Albania has not always had the best reputation and it's been really trying to change its image in recent years.

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18:16You've been speaking to opponents of this project. What have they been telling you about the reasons for their opposition? So I've spent a lot of time with environmental groups who are really concerned about how much this area is going to be transformed. They worry about the destruction to the natural habitat of this protected area of ecological importance that, you know, light pollution and noise pollution are going to scare away some of the 2 ,000 species of migratory birds that pass through this area. is also an area that's home to flamingos, sea turtles, endangered monk seals. And they look at these plans and they just say that if you disrupt the careful balance of this important ecosystem, it's going to be catastrophic.

19:01They're not against tourism happening in the country, but they're against it happening in this particular area. And whoever you speak to in Albania, whether it's villagers, environmentalists, protesters, they are all angry about this lack of transparency, that there are deals being made over fancy lunches in nice restaurants, and that locals are not being consulted at all, that there's no public consultation, there's no public documents when it comes to permits. So people are just confused and they want to be consulted. There is also this feeling of people are fed up in the country, people that I've spoken to, about corruption.

19:42They complain that Albania is supposed to be an EU candidate country, but there are still deals happening behind closed doors. What does that possible EU membership mean in this story? Because if you're outside of Europe, you know, whether one country is a member or not a member of the EU might have little significance. But if you are a country like Albania, which has a relatively small economy, it could be a huge deal. What have the EU said about all of this? Yeah, so joining the European Union is a huge deal for Albania and it's something that Prime Minister Eddie Rama has been working towards for some time.

20:20But now Albania is facing outside investigations because of this tourist development. So the EU have now weighed in. We've heard from the European Commission who has urged Albania to act without delay to make sure it's aligned with EU environmental legislation if it wants to join the bloc. and they're warning that for Albania to join the EU, it really depends on its alignment to EU laws when it comes to the environment. Prime Minister Rama has hit back and said that they will be carrying out an environmental impact assessment. But then separately to that, he's also facing possible corruption charges.

21:00We know that Albania's anti-corruption prosecution body has also announced that it's going to be launching a probe about this project. including that controversial legislation that was made in 2024 that impacted the area's protected status and also how land ownership could be obtained. So this grand idea that Rama had for his country could now be derailing the opportunity for it to join the EU, which so many Albanians want. And, you know, for Kushner, this is not the first time that he's tried to invest in this region and run into trouble. In 2024, he struck a deal with the Serbian government to build a Trump hotel at the site of a building that was bombed by NATO in the 90s.

21:48But there was so much opposition and so much protest that it had to be abandoned the following year. In the Serbia case, four government officials were charged with abuse of power and forgery in connection with the project hours before Affinity Partners announced that they were pulling out. These officials deny these charges, but it does give you a sense of potentially how high the stakes could be for Eddie Rama's government. Oh, well, that's fascinating. So this isn't even the first hotel he's tried to build in the Balkans. Yes, that's right. And in Albania, it could be even more complicated because of Albania's past and the fact that you have all of these land disputes going on in the country.

22:29So in the village next to this area where they want to build, speaking to locals, I found that they claim that some of the land that is supposedly going to be built on is theirs. They say it's theirs and they've been locked in a land dispute now for 13 years. Eddie Rama insists that this is privately owned land and it has been acquired in a transparent manner. and in the blueprints and renderings of Jared Kushner's project, these are now peppered with villas. And the villagers are like, huh, that's my land. I've been producing olive oil from this land forever now. And what's really complicated here, Tristan, is that it's likely under different laws.

23:12All parties have a legal claim to the land. And so I guess it begs the question then, how can the government sell land to investors if nobody really knows who owns it? I don't mean to be facetious, but it does sound like a minefield, not just figurative, but also literally a minefield, because you've got all of this stuff going on and then you have unexploded ordnance on the land as well. Yes, so first you have to clear the unexploded ordnance and then you also have these potentially explosive court cases. And it all goes back to Albania's past, where each system of governance had different rules about who owned the land.

23:51And over the last 20 years, there's been thousands of court cases like this one in Svenets where people all claim the land. And it's basically because after World War II, the country was basically big landowners and villages working for them. But then the communists came to power and all of this land was turned to state property because of collectivization. So everything that was private was then state owned. And then in 1991, when the communist dictatorship fell, they made a law which distributed the land to people living in the village. So basically giving them the land for their use. But they disregarded any other conflict of interest and they disregarded all of the deeds.

24:32And so this has obviously caused many, many disputes in the country. There are some parallels here between the famous Gaza Riviera project, two stretches of Mediterranean coast that Jared Kushner has proposed to redevelop in Gaza as a kind of aftermath solution of redevelopment after the war. And then in a private project in Albania, something similar. What does all this tell us about Jared Kushner's approach to the world? Well, it begs the question, doesn't it? Should these kind of deals be happening with Jared Kushner? He insists he didn't meet Eddie Rama while he was in government, but he's clearly still working for the government in his envoy status.

25:17And actually, in January, when Ivanka Trump was in Albania, guess where Jared Kushner was? He was in Davos selling his big vision for Gaza for this high rise seaside resort. And so that has angered, I think, a lot of protesters and people in Albania too. It's not just the foreign investment, but it's who is leading the foreign investment. It's the fact that a very privileged few can get access to the prime minister and can get access to these sorts of deals. Emily, the story of Europeans not always being thrilled by US-driven tourism projects is one we see crop up in different guises, particularly in the European summer.

26:02How much does all this tell us about the way Europeans view the United States right now? Did you get a sense of anti-Americanism or did the protesters not see it that way? Actually, no, I don't get a sense of that. I get a sense that Albanians really like America and they want to move closer to America and that this isn't about being anti-American. The feeling seems to be a little bit more about the fact that these are foreign investors coming in and that it's not clear how Albanians are going to benefit from it. And I think it's really interesting in a time of over-tourism when people are getting fed up of tourists overrunning their towns and cities.