Prime Minister Rama's two-hour appearance on the construction of the tourist resort in Zvërnec, which was eagerly awaited by the public, once again left unanswered essential questions related to the transparency of the $4 billion project, which involves President Trump's family, Arab investors, and local partners.
For such an important investment, Rama should have first responded to the issue of land ownership, which has been the subject of dispute among the residents of the area for two years; the behavior of the police during the protest; and the removal of the Narta Lagoon Natural Park from the map of protected areas. Instead of exhaustive answers, the prime minister went to Israel, dealing with a social media photomontage that has no connection to the real demands of the protest.
Rama then went to Greece, where he alluded that the fire of protest comes from, according to him, in the name of competition in tourism. He thus attempted to touch patriotic emotions, as he did with the attack on Fatos Lubonja and Arlind Qorri.
This was a deliberate narrative, focused on populism, patriotism and the external enemy, silencing or relativizing the real highlights of the project. But let's take a look at the answers that Rama avoided.
First, the land where the project is expected to be developed is not as the prime minister said. It has been the subject of unresolved judicial conflicts for years between the controversial businessman Artur Shehu and people associated with him, on the one hand, and the residents of the Zvërnec area, on the other, most of whom live in Greece. This is a known fact.
The problem here is not only of justice and court decisions, but also of Rama's government itself. A government that will truly develop tourism with elite foreign investments cannot fail to see the problem of the property where the investment will take place. The government cannot be an outsider when it is the one that grants development permission on a land area that is in court.
Just as it cannot be hidden by saying that these are relationships between private individuals, being responsible for the Vlora Mortgage, from where the certificates of this property were issued and where 12 directors were changed within a year. The state is the master of its documents, even more so when entrepreneurs with such a high reputation are involved in this project. Of course, an even higher legal certainty would be needed.
The question is: what will happen if one of the property lawsuits, which has been going on for years, is won by its claimants?
What will happen if the SPAK investigation, launched some time ago into the manner in which the land was acquired in Zvërnec and continued today in Vlora and Tirana with inspections and seizures of documents from both official land owners, concludes that there were abuses and forgeries? Or was SPAK also instigated by Greece, which has become jealous of Trump's son-in-law's investment?
And since we are in Greece, about which Rama said he was surprised that Zvërnec is a homogeneous Greek minority, the truth is more complex. In Zvërnec, apart from four or five tribes, among them the Shehaj, most of the other families have origins from Greece, as was the case with the nearby Narta.
This explains the arrival of most of the protesters from Greece, where they have emigrated, as well as the mobilization of the Greek media. None of this would have happened if the residents of Zvërnec were not today on the other side of the barbed wire fence of denied property, but claimed with the deeds of law 7501.
Secondly, Rama said today that the Zvërnec area is a protected area of the fifth category, which allows the coexistence of nature with tourist development. If this is true, why in February 2024 did this majority change the law on protected areas, allowing construction?
He did this in a few minutes in Parliament, even though the European Union opposed it and demanded the repeal of the amendments, while the opposition took the law to the Constitutional Court.
Thirdly, the police's behavior was scandalous and Rama was on a propaganda offensive today according to the motto: we make mistakes, but we reflect.
The truth is that the entire Vlora police force that day, if not under orders, was at least aware that they were in Zvërnec to protect the construction company and not to guarantee order according to the law.
There is no other explanation for the shameful scenes of police officers turning their heads the other way as a protester was dragged away without doing anything. Were they incompetent or did they not know what they were doing? But when the company guards got involved in the clash, did they not understand that they had to react?
This case is not about the dismissal of a director or the incompetence of ordinary police officers, but about the model of how the giving and implementation of illegal orders constitutes the model of the state and the administration today. To this, the reaction of the government and Rama today was once again to cover up the real scandal of violence during the protest.
The protest has sufficiently frightened Rama for two reasons: the risk of Trump's son-in-law being removed from Zvërnec after the riots and the possibility of its expansion at a time when there are many reasons to protest. As was seen at today's rally, participation was greater and with young people.
Rama is not afraid of Fatos Lubonja, nor Arlind Qorri, much less environmentalists. They cannot mobilize so many people.
Rama knows that the real protest was neither of anti-Semitic Muslims, nor of envious Greeks, nor of communists who want to build tourism with their own forces. It has been joined by environmentalists and left-wing activists who come out whenever there is talk of such investments, but rarely with success. Because, in the majority, Albanians are in favor of elite foreign investments in tourism. Rama is afraid of the protest because he knows that its essence is property, denied rights and reasonable suspicions that the theft of property does not happen without the government. And not only in Zvërnec.
