Protests in Tirana, Rama tells German newspaper: Albania is not being sold, challenges usually make me better

The nightly protests in Tirana, known as the “Flamingo Revolution,” and their confrontation with Edi Rama’s government have been extensively covered by the prestigious German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The civic movement has continued for more than 100 days, although, as the article notes, it has yet to develop into a mass mobilization on the streets of the capital.

For more than 100 days, protesters have gathered every evening at around 19:00 in central Tirana and marched along “Martyrs of the Nation” Boulevard. The Prime Minister’s Office lies midway along the route, and protesters demand Edi Rama’s resignation in front of it.

At this point in the march, the chants grow louder. There have been occasional clashes with police and arrests, but for the most part the protests have passed peacefully.

Participation is higher on weekdays, while at weekends even some of the most committed protesters choose to go to the coast. At the same time, Tirana’s streets fill with young people who celebrate for just as long and just as noisily as the protesters demonstrate. The article describes these as two parallel realities that almost never meet.

Although the self-styled “Flamingo Revolution” has not yet become a mass popular movement, it has demonstrated staying power. Rama appears equally persistent; he has led the government since 2013 and aims to complete his term in 2029.

This situation raises the question of which side will manage to hold out to the end.

The protests began in late May, following a violent intervention by employees of a private security company near the fence of a construction site in the northern part of the Zvërnec peninsula. Preliminary work for the construction of a luxury tourism project was planned in the area.

Several hundred citizens had protested at the site against the project promoted by Jared Kushner’s investment company, Affinity Partners. Kushner is Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

Tensions arose near the fence during the gathering, as guards dragged several protesters across the gravel to remove them from the construction site perimeter. No one suffered serious injuries, but footage recorded on mobile phones spread widely online.

The transformation of this relatively minor incident into a nationwide protest is also linked to flamingos, which the movement chose as a symbol of the change it seeks to bring.

Environmental activists fear that rapid tourism development in the south of the country could threaten colonies of pink flamingos and other migratory birds. The concern relates particularly to luxury resorts planned by investors from the Arab world and Qatar who are linked to the Kushner group. The Narta Lagoon, a protected area near Zvërnec, is the habitat of the pink flamingo.

The “Flamingo Movement” accuses the government of corruption and calls for the expansion of protected areas, an end to preferential treatment for major investors, and the holding of new democratic elections.

At first, Rama, who has led the Socialist Party since 2005 and the government since 2013, chose to wait for the protests to die down on their own. He reminded participants that they could not simply take to the streets and topple an elected prime minister and government.

In his view, power could not be changed in that way, and protesters had to wait for the next elections. This position was supported by the result of the May 2025 parliamentary elections, when Rama and the Socialists won more than 52% of the vote.

It was the Socialist Party’s fourth consecutive electoral victory, while Rama and his political force had managed to steadily increase their share of the vote.

Nevertheless, only a short time after securing his strongest electoral mandate, the prime minister faced what the article describes as the most serious threat to his power.

Just under two months after the protests began, Rama changed his approach. Instead of using harsh rhetoric, he began presenting the gatherings as evidence of the vitality and resilience of Albanian democracy.

The prime minister distinguishes between citizens with legitimate demands, whom he says should be listened to, and people who he claims are being politically exploited by his opponents inside and outside Albania.

At the end of July, during a forceful speech to the Socialist parliamentary group, Rama outlined the government’s new strategy and spoke of a deep crisis of public trust.

Before the leaders of a party accustomed to electoral victories, he referred to what he called the “paradox of success.” According to this reasoning, the more a society progresses and becomes wealthier, the less attention it pays to its achievements and the things that work, focusing instead on its shortcomings.

Rama said poor societies are more tolerant of problems because they are dominated by the belief that things could be even worse. In his view, Albania has moved beyond that stage and has now entered a phase in which citizens believe things could be even better.

For this reason, he calls for the construction of a “caring state” that listens to citizens, takes their experiences seriously, and improves the quality of public services and investment, with the aim of strengthening trust in institutions.

According to the prime minister, this approach has become part of discussions within the government and the parliamentary group about how institutions should respond to society’s needs.

Socialist Party lawmakers and officials welcomed the speech. Representatives of the “Flamingo Movement,” on the other hand, described it as a rhetorical attempt to divert attention from corruption, a lack of transparency, and environmental damage.

Sali Berisha, leader of the conservative opposition and the Democratic Party, suggested that Rama had used artificial intelligence to draft the 40-page document, which he described as weak in substance and poorly written.

In his meeting with the German newspaper, Rama does not appear to feel compelled to go on the defensive in the face of the “Flamingo Revolution.” He receives the journalist in his office at the Prime Minister’s Office, with white sneakers placed under the desk, loose black trousers, and a sweater and socks that are also black.

A series of basketball jerseys hangs on a rack. Rama, a former member of the Albanian national team, received them as gifts, while the office’s cabinets and shelves are filled with various works of art.

The prime minister does not believe Albania is at a turning point, let alone on the verge of a rupture. Nevertheless, he regards the situation as a test of trust and says he tries to see the glass as both half full and half empty.

According to Rama, it is acceptable for someone to see the glass as half empty, since that person places less importance on achievements and demands more. Those who see it as half full, meanwhile, focus on the results that have been achieved.

In his assessment, citizens taking to the streets for biodiversity, environmental protection, and other public issues can, in principle, be seen as a positive sign.

Rama describes the protest as a useful challenge. He says that throughout his political career, things have not really gone well during periods when he did not feel challenged and that, usually, pressure has made him better.

Whether this will happen again this time, he says, remains to be seen. The prime minister expresses hope for such an outcome, but only time and the future can prove it.

Another part of the debate concerns investment projects in Zvërnec and on Sazan Island. Rama recalls that his first contact with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump about the possibility of investing in these areas took place when Donald Trump had not yet been reelected president.

Describing the circumstances of that period, Rama said Trump’s life hung between the possibility of prison and a return to the White House.

The prime minister insists that promoting foreign direct investment in Albania, particularly in tourism as a key sector, does not turn him into an instrument of Trump.

In his view, the possibility of investments worth more than 4 billion euros in projects planned by Kushner and his partners cannot automatically be rejected by a prime minister if the projects are deemed to serve the country’s interests.

Rama rejects claims that Albania is being “sold.” He stresses that Sazan Island is and will remain the property of the Albanian state.

Likewise, no agreement has yet been finalized that would allow private investors to develop the former closed military zone on Sazan as a luxury resort.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article also examines the protests’ impact on tourism. A slight slowdown in the sector’s growth was observed in June, but the situation now appears to have been overcome and has not produced long-term consequences for visitor numbers.

The forecasts cited indicate that Albania is expected to receive around 14 to 15 million visitors this year, compared with approximately 12.5 million recorded a year earlier.

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