Albania has previously promised that the €1.4bn project linked to Donald Trump's son-in-law will meet EU environmental standards.
The fate of a proposed Trump family-linked luxury resort which sparked mass protests in Albania during the summer will be decided by the results of an environmental impact assessment, not "streets and ideology", Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has told Euronews.
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The proposed investment in the protected area of Zvërnec, in southwestern Albania, is connected to Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, and her husband Jared Kushner, who advises and negotiates on behalf of the president.
Speaking at Euronews' Travel and Tourism Summit 2026 in Brussels on Tuesday, the Albanian leader continued to defend the project, arguing that it would play have a major impact on the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market.
When pressed by Maria Tadeo, Euronews' Chief Europe Editor, Rama insisted that his government has to attract investments such as this to "deal with the needs of the country... to have a much better life, bigger salaries, better services."
Demonstrators have repeatedly taken to the streets of Tirana to voice their opposition to the project, with some calling for Rama’s resignation over the issue.
Albania, currently a frontrunner for EU membership, assured the European Commission last June that the project will comply with EU environmental standards. To complete its accession to the bloc, Tirana must align with the EU's legal framework, including on environmental protection.
'North Korea of Europe'
Speaking about his country's budding emergence as a tourist destination, Rama described Albania as the former "North Korea of Europe" as he outlined plans to boost "higher quality" tourism in the country amid a backdrop of protests against such projects.
He said Albania used to be the "most isolated country in Europe" but that it had now become the continent's "shining little jewel."
“Close to 12 million foreigners” from across the globe had visited the southeastern European nation this year, he said, a figure supported by UN Tourism data.
'Higher quality’ tourists
It seemed that Rama, however, was not fully satisfied with the type of tourist fuelling the boom.
"One of the downsides of this is that by having tourism that is based on the middle-, low-income tourists, we risk to have a country under big stress on its infrastructure, on its nature, on its services," he said.
He argued that Albania was missing out on what high-income tourists could have to offer, saying they "lower the stress on the country and we get more from them."
"That's why we are investing also to get investors that bring the very high end," he added.
Rama added that Albania's new push for high-end investment would be open to foreign capital, partnerships, and local companies.