Rama speaks about protests to German newspaper: “Albania is not for sale”

Daily protests in Tirana, dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution,” and the political clash with Prime Minister Edi Rama have become the subject of an article published by the prestigious German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The article focuses on protests that have continued for more than 100 days but, according to the piece, have not turned into a mass movement on the streets of the capital.

Faced with this situation, Rama sees the protests as a challenge for the government, but also as an opportunity to reflect on how institutions should respond to citizens’ concerns.

“For me it is a challenge. But that is a good thing. Throughout my political life, things have never really gone well when I wasn’t challenged,” Rama is quoted as saying, adding that time will tell whether the challenge will make his governance better this time too.

According to the prime minister, the fact that citizens take to the streets over issues related to the environment, biodiversity and the public interest should not necessarily be seen as a negative development.

Rama argues that Albania needs a greater approach to what he calls a “caring state” – a state that listens to citizens, takes their experiences into account and works to improve public services and investments.

According to him, this approach is also part of reflections within the government and the parliamentary group on how institutions should respond to society’s demands.

Another part of the article concerns investment projects in Zvërnec and the island of Sazan, which have been at the centre of public debate.

Rama rejects the term “sale” of Albania and stresses that Sazan remains the property of the Albanian state.

According to him, no agreement has yet been finalised for the development of the former military zone of Sazan by private investors.

The article also touches on the discussion about foreign investments in the tourism sector, including projects linked to Jared Kushner and his partners.

According to the position conveyed by Rama, investments with a potential value of over 4 billion euros are not something a prime minister can automatically reject if he judges them to be in the country’s interest.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also addresses the impact of the protests on the tourism sector.

According to the article, the protests have brought a slight slowdown in the growth of the sector, but the situation does not seem to have had a long-term impact on the flow of visitors.

The figures mentioned in the article predict that Albania will welcome around 14 to 15 million visitors this year, up from approximately 12.5 million a year earlier.

In this panorama, the “Flamingo Revolution” remains one of the most visible clashes between citizen protest, development policies and major tourism projects in Albania.

Full article:

By Matthias Rüb, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”

For more than a hundred days they have gathered every evening. Around 7:00 p.m. people gather in the heart of Tirana and walk along the “Dëshmorët e Kombit” Boulevard. About halfway along is the prime minister’s office, whose resignation they demand.

Right there the protest becomes loudest. From time to time, there are clashes with police officers and arrests in front of the building, but most of the time the situation remains peaceful.

So it goes evening after evening. On weekdays, the protesters are visibly more numerous than on weekends, when even the most persistent protesters sometimes choose the sea instead of always staying on the streets of Tirana. The latter fill with young people going out to celebrate. They celebrate at least as loudly and as long as the protesters demonstrate. They are two parallel worlds that seem not to intersect.

The self-proclaimed “Flamingo Revolution” in Albania has so far not turned into a mass movement. However, it has shown persistence. The head of government, Edi Rama, is doing the same. He has been in power since 2013 and is determined to stay until the end of the legislature in 2029.

Which side will manage to hold out until the end?

The protests in the Albanian capital began at the end of May. The trigger was the harsh intervention of employees of a private security company near a construction site fence. The fence had been erected on the northern edge of the Zvërnec peninsula, where preliminary work for a luxury tourism project was to begin. Several hundred people had protested on site against the project, which is being pushed forward by Jared Kushner’s investment company Affinity Partners, the son-in-law of Donald Trump.

During the protest there were clashes near the fence. Guards dragged several protesters over gravel to remove them from the construction site fence. Cell phone footage of the intervention, in which no one was seriously injured, went viral.

But how could a relatively insignificant incident turn into a national protest movement that even calls itself a revolution?

This is also related to the flamingos, which the movement has chosen as the sympathetic symbol of the change it seeks. Environmentalists fear that the colonies of pink flamingos and other migratory birds could be endangered by the tourism boom in the south of Albania – particularly by the luxury resorts planned by Arab investors and Qatari investors linked to the Kushner group. The habitat of the pink flamingo is precisely the Narta Lagoon, a protected area near Zvërnec.

The “Flamingo Movement” accuses the government of corruption and demands the expansion of protected areas, an end to favouring large investors and new democratic elections.

Initially Rama, who has led the Socialist Party since 2005 and the government since 2013, tried to let the protests burn themselves out. Protesters were told they could not just show up one fine day and remove from office the elected prime minister and his government.

“That’s not how it works. You have to wait until the next elections.” It was an argument difficult to refute. In the parliamentary elections of May 2025, Rama and his socialists had won more than 52% of the votes. It was the socialists’ fourth consecutive election victory, while Rama and his party had steadily increased their vote share.

However, precisely after receiving the strongest mandate from voters, Rama unexpectedly faced the most serious threat to his power. Less than two months after the start of the protests, he changed tactics. Instead of continuing to show the protesters his “fist” through rhetoric, he is now trying to pat them on the shoulder. The protests, he now says, are a sign of the vitality and stability of Albanian democracy. He distinguishes between those who present legitimate demands and must be heard, and those who, according to him, are being used by his opponents inside and outside the country for political purposes.

In a strong speech before the parliamentary group of the socialists at the end of July, Rama presented the government’s new strategy. He spoke of a deep crisis of public trust. Before the figures of his party, accustomed to electoral victories, Rama complained about the “paradox of success”: the more a society develops and prospers, the less it values what has been achieved and works, and the more it focuses on what is missing and does not work.

Poor societies, he said, are more tolerant of shortcomings, because the prevailing mindset is that “it could have been even worse.” Albania, according to Rama, has left this phase behind and entered another, where the prevailing idea is that “it could have been even better.”

Therefore, according to him, a “caring state” is now needed, to listen and take seriously the experiences of citizens, improve the quality of services and investments and in this way strengthen citizens’ trust in the state.

Rama’s speech was received positively by the deputies and officials of the Socialist Party. Representatives of the Flamingo Movement dismissed it as a rhetorical manoeuvre to divert attention from fundamental problems: corruption, lack of transparency and environmental destruction.

Sali Berisha, head of the conservative opposition from the Democratic Party, raised suspicion that Rama had used artificial intelligence to draft the 40-page document, which he described as contentless and poorly written.

Rama himself does not give the impression of feeling defensive about the “Flamingo Revolution.” He receives you in his office at the Prime Minister’s Office. His white sneakers are under the desk. With wide black trousers, black sweater and black socks. On a clothes rack hang basketball jerseys that the former Albanian national team player received as gifts. Cabinets and shelves are filled with various art objects.

Rama does not believe the country is at a turning point, let alone a breaking point. “But it is undoubtedly a test of confidence.” He says he tries to see the glass as simultaneously half full and half empty.

“If someone else sees the glass half empty, that’s fine. He sees less of what we have achieved and demands more. While the one who sees the glass half full sees precisely what we have achieved.”

In principle, according to him, it is a positive sign when people take to the streets – for biodiversity, for environmental protection and for other issues.

“For me it is a challenge. But that is a good thing. Throughout my political life things have never really gone well when I wasn’t challenged. I’m usually better when challenged. Will I be better this time too? I hope. I don’t know. Time will tell. The future will prove it.”

As for the direct cause of the protests on the Albanian riviera, Rama recalls that the first contact with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump about a possible investment in Zvërnec and the island of Sazan had happened at a time when Donald Trump was not yet president again.

“Trump’s life at that time oscillated between prison and the White House.”

Rama insists that the fact that, as Albanian prime minister, he promotes foreign direct investment in his country, especially in the key tourism sector, does not make him a tool of Trump.

And the prospect of more than four billion euros of investments in the projects planned by Kushner and his partners, says Rama, is not something he as prime minister can simply reject, if he thinks about the country’s interest.

However, according to him, one cannot speak of a “sale” of Albania. The island of Sazan continues to be the property of the Albanian state and will remain so. No agreement has yet been reached for the possible development of the former closed military zone by private investors into a luxury resort.

In June, the protests brought a small slowdown in the growth of Albanian tourism. Now this seems to have been overcome. This year Albania is expected to register 14 to 15 million visitors, compared to around 12.5 million a year earlier.