“Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” — C. P. Scott, 1921.
Kushner, Rama, Vučić: a triangle of interests at the public’s expense
Erblin Vukaj · Originally published: 17 May 2025
In this article
Kushner at the investment forum
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former White House adviser, appeared in Tirana today (by video call) as a strategic investor who, through the projects he has taken on in Albania and Serbia, is presenting himself as the “saviour” connecting a region known for conflict to a prosperous future.
But his presentation said nothing about transparency, competition, cultural heritage or environmental issues, all matters strongly defended and promoted by the European Union.
At the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute’s summit, “FII Priority Europe Tirana 2025”, a global platform aiming to promote international dialogue on investment and economic development, Kushner did not appear in person as expected but spoke by video call.
He appeared as the founder and director of Affinity Partners, which in Albania has received strategic-investor status to build two tourist complexes with hundreds of villas and hotels in Zvërnec and Sazan.
Kushner spoke of the investment horizon “in an Albania connected to a growing market such as the Balkans”. His appearance as a speaker in Tirana comes around a year after his projects in Serbia and Albania began raising concerns.
The Belgrade project and cultural heritage
The $500 million project to build three 30-storey towers on the site of the former General Staff headquarters and Ministry of Defence, bombed by NATO in 1999, has been called into question this week after it emerged that the two buildings had their cultural-monument status removed through a falsified expert assessment.
President Vučić’s administration has justified the “Kushner deal” on the grounds that it will increase foreign investment and that the government will receive 22.5% of the project’s revenue, while Trump’s son-in-law will include a memorial to the victims of NATO’s bombing and a museum devoted to the history of the former ministry in the construction of the “Trump Hotel”.
But where some see investment, others see profits being made from collective trauma and historical heritage. Faced with criticism from the opposition and the Serbian public that “land is being handed over for political influence”, the Serbian government has defended itself by saying that the land “has not been sold, but granted for use for 99 years”.
The buildings, which have architectural value as examples of modernism, have been included on Europa Nostra’s list among the 7 most endangered historic buildings in Europe.
The case recalls the approach taken with Albania’s National Theatre, which was also included on Europa Nostra’s list. The building was stripped of cultural-monument status and, after two years of protests, on the basis of a disputed expert assessment with no independent technical review, Tirana’s Municipal Council approved its demolition by email on the evening of 14 May 2020.
Investments in Sazan and Zvërnec
In this context, what is happening in Belgrade with Kushner’s projects, and Albania’s far from positive record of procedures for major infrastructure and public-investment projects, serve as a warning of what is approaching the shores of Zvërnec and the island of Sazan:
Two vast resorts with at least 10 thousand rooms, to be built regardless of possible breaches of procedures and laws.
In January, Citizens.al explained how Kushner secured the right to develop Sazan through a process that looks more like a political manoeuvre to win the support of US President Donald Trump and his family than a transparent competition for tourism development.
From a “visitor” invited by the Albanian authorities, Kushner became a “strategic investor” within a few months, while protected-area legislation was urgently amended to permit construction in ecologically sensitive territories such as Zvërnec and Sazan.
Kushner’s participation as a keynote speaker at this weekend’s investment forum in Albania confirms that his projects enjoy high-level political support in Albania and Serbia.
He revealed that the idea of investing in Sazan and Zvërnec came after he met Rama during a tourist visit in 2021 and learned about the construction of Vlorë Airport, which provided an incentive for the major tourism project not far away.
Sazan Island contains natural monuments such as the “Devil’s Gorge Coral Barrier” and the “Sazan Cliff”, which are protected by law. Construction in this area raises questions about preserving natural assets and the impact on local ecosystems.
“The area is 60 miles from Italy, 60 miles from Corfu, and an airport is being built not far away, so it is a fantastic investment opportunity,” said Kushner, who maintains that the area’s environment will be preserved. Yet he offered no concrete details of how he would do so.
Transparency and the public interest
But is this what Albania, a country awaiting integration into the EU, needs?
The issue is not only the luxury Kushner claims he will bring. He revealed that his family will have a residence in the area where he is investing in Albania. It is about the precedents being confirmed: development of protected areas without public consultation, a complete lack of transparency in the selection of investors, and questionable links between political interests and international capital.
For Albania, the case of Sazan and Zvërnec is not simply a tourism issue but a test of its institutions’ integrity in the face of recurring cases: Vlorë Airport, Vlorë Marina, Durrës Marina and, on the horizon, Divjaka or protected mountain areas threatened by the so-called “Mountain Package”.
Since 2024, when Kushner made the projects public, the Albanian authorities have disclosed little or nothing. Since January 2025, when it became known that Kushner had received strategic-investor status for 10 years, nothing has been known about the progress of subsequent procedures.
The parties would have to decide how more than 45 hectares of land will be granted to Kushner and what form the public-private partnership will take. They will likely use the formula that allocated around 80 hectares of the Port of Durrës to Mohamed Alabbar’s “Durrës Yacht & Marina”, a project clouded by questions in which the Durrës Port Authority retained 33% of the shares. Yet neither the government nor the Investment Corporation has been transparent about whether any agreement has been reached and, if so, what it is.
The government’s record also includes the bad example of “Marina di Valona”, where entrepreneur Geront Çela was granted strategic-investor status and the opportunity to privatise 5.75 hectares of the Port of Vlorë through the controversial “Albania 1 Euro” law.
If the history of these projects repeats itself, as seems likely, then this is no longer coincidence but a strategy seeking to erase once and for all the boundaries between private and public, profit and responsibility. Those boundaries are far removed from the “prosperity” Kushner presented on the “FII Priority Europe Tirana 2025” platform; they belong to a corrupt practice of wielding influence in pursuit of clout and power.