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Albania’s “flamingo revolution” has won its most prominent supporter yet after the pop star Dua Lipa expressed admiration for the protest movement against a Trump family-backed resort in the Balkan state.
As demonstrations against the €۱.۶bn (£۰.۸۵bn) real estate project entered a sixth week, the London-born singer, who was partially raised in Pristina, home to her Kosovan Albanian émigré parents, described the civic unrest as “inspiring”.
Addressing the issue in conversation with the Albanian academic and author Lea Ypi on her Service۹۵ Book Club podcast, Lipa said: “I find it so inspiring to see how much people really care.”
The project, which foresees widespread construction on Sazan, Albania’s only island, is backed by investors led by the US president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his wife, Ivanka Trump. In a podcast released in May, Trump described the planned resort as “massive” and beautiful.
The project was fast-tracked after the Albanian parliament controversially amended stringent legislation in December ۲۰۲۴ to allow construction in environmentally sensitive areas. There is no evidence Kushner had any role in the change.
But it was this move by the parliament that Lipa, ۳۰, said raised questions over perceived governmental transparency.
“What I actually find concerning is the principle that the government could just change the law to remove the environmental protection without any kind of public consultation,” Lipa told listeners.
As well as the development on Sazan, the project plans for an additional ۱۰,۰۰۰ villas built along a strip of white, sandy shore land on the Zvërnec peninsula opposite.
Both are uninhabited and considered nature reserves hosting vital ecosystems and wildlife zones for birdlife and other rare species in the Adriatic. MEPs have warned the EU member candidate that accession talks could be endangered if environmental standards are not upheld. Albania had hoped to join the bloc by ۲۰۳۰.
Albania’s prime minister, Edi Rama, has called the development – the biggest investment the erstwhile communist state has ever seen – “a gift to Europe” and “a blessing” for a nation that, more than ۳۰ years after its embrace of democracy, remains among the poorest in the west. Despite the opposition, the veteran socialist has steadfastly refused to back down.
Lipa’s intervention was enthusiastically received on the ۴۵th day of mass protests in Tirana, the Albanian capital.
Aleksander Trajce, who heads the nation’s leading conservation group, the Protection and Preservation of the Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), told the Guardian the singer’s comments were not only “fantastic but well-timed”.
“It was a very powerful statement. A lot of especially younger Albanians, who see her as an idol, have been inspired,” he said. “This is the ۴۵th day of our protests and there is no sign they are going to stop.”
Asked if there was any indication of a change of heart at an official level, Trajce added: “The government is now beginning to do what it should have done from the start, such as conducting an environmental impact study but on [Zvërnec] the damage has already been done; works have taken place, there has been an environmental crime and people should be held accountable.”
Despite the protests, developers say they will progress responsibly, saying their focus remains on “responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation and creating long-term value for local communities”.
