“Rama trapped the U.S. president’s daughter and son-in-law for his own purposes,” Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha declared during an online discussion with citizens on social media.
 
According to Berisha, the “Zvërnec” project had been under investigation for a year, yet development permits were still granted.
 
Berisha: I must state here that recent developments have exposed a major trap that Edi Rama had organized for the investors, and I say this with full conviction, specifically for the daughter and son-in-law of the U.S. president.
 
Allow me, dear citizens, to explain this situation in more detail.
 
First, what has emerged in recent days?
 
It has emerged that there are major property ownership disputes in the area.
 
Yesterday in Zvërnec, a farmer confronted him directly, saying: ask Ardit Bido whose land it really is.
 
What does this mean?
 
It means that, according to archival documents, that man had found evidence of his ancestors’ land, which Edi Rama is now seizing.
 
And then Rama turned around and told him not to talk about the courts because it would damage relations with Europe.
 
But when you attacked the judiciary and prosecution through your records over Belinda Balluku, your Lindas, Ergys Agasi, and others, that did not damage relations with Europe. Yet when it comes to someone else’s property that you are taking away, suddenly Europe becomes a concern. Shameless demagogue.
 
What did yesterday’s meeting in Zvërnec reveal?
 
It revealed that Zvërnec had been under investigation for a year by the institution responsible for investigating two criminal offenses: high-level corruption and organized crime.
 
In other words, while Albanian prosecutors had already opened an investigation into organized crime or corruption at the highest levels, he granted a development permit to the company, hoping that the authority and influence of Mr. Kushner and his wife would be enough to shut down any investigation.
 
Is this not a disgraceful trap set by a man willing to do anything to implicate others for his own benefit?
 
How can you issue a development permit in an area that you know is under investigation by the Special Prosecution Office for organized crime and corruption?
 
What exactly were you trying to achieve?
 
So, is this not your own trap, designed to serve your interests?
 
What else has now come to light?
 
I have said from the beginning that the most striking aspect of this affair is the complete lack of transparency. Zero transparency.
 
What did we see?
 
We saw barbed wire, we saw a man being dragged away, we saw protesters, and we saw a government blaming the company for failing to resolve issues with landowners, despite having granted it strategic investor status and a development permit.
 
Ask yourselves, what kind of government is this?
 
Now let us consider the other deeply disturbing information that has emerged.
 
He has leaked to the media that 10,000 rooms will be built.
 
Ten thousand rooms, dear friends, would amount to a development stretching from Karaburun to Ksamil.
 
Imagine the scale of the devastation.
 
Because it is not just 10,000 rooms. It also means 10,000 garages, annexes, and other facilities.
 
This is the same man who took Zvërnec, a protected area, and removed its protected status. You may remove it domestically, but Europe does not, because protected habitats do not belong only to one country. They are protected for all EU member states and for countries pursuing EU integration.
 
Now, dear citizens, allow me to explain a moment from the previous government regarding the Vjosa area.
 
We were building the Levan–Vlorë road, financed by two major European institutions, for which I remain very grateful: the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
 
At a certain point, environmental protection groups, whom I thank, rightly raised concerns that the highway would disturb nearby habitats.
 
The banks reacted immediately and asked our government to revise the project and move it away from the habitat.
 
The redesign cost us €18 million.
 
But we changed the project because roads are roads, while habitats are permanent and must not be disturbed.
 
Secondly, our approach to protected habitats. In 2012, as the Rinas Airport concession was approaching its expiration date and we were permitted to build airports elsewhere in the country, the first airport we had planned was in Vlorë.
 
We sent a team of experts, who returned and informed us that construction at the original location was impossible because of the protected habitats.
 
They proposed building the airport near the Levan junction instead. They identified unused land with no agricultural production and concluded it was the most suitable location. We fully agreed because the airport would also serve Berat, Gjirokastër, and southern Albania as a whole.
 
The same process was followed by this government in 2017. We, of course, relocated the airport project and decided to build it near the Levan junction.
 
They sent their own team, led by Belinda Balluku.
 
That team returned with the same conclusion, except for three individuals who sided with the government.
 
Everyone else said no, the airport could not be built there because it was in a protected area, would destroy the flamingo habitat, and therefore should not proceed.
 
Those experts were dismissed, and Edi Rama brutally pushed ahead with the airport’s construction, delivering a fatal blow to the bird habitat, where wildlife can no longer remain amid the noise and constant roar of aircraft.