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European Commission reacts to CNN: Works have been suspended, SPAK is investigating beyond environmental concerns
2026-06-06 11:32:21 / AKTUALITET
The major television network CNN, in an extensive chronicle about the protests in Albania, emphasizes that contrary to what Prime Minister Edi Rama claims, there were works in the Zvërnec area.
Ariel Brunner, the European director of the environmental charity BirdLife, said he and other conservationists visited the area in early May, where they saw excavators digging on the beach and trucks laying gravel. “There was no sign, not near the lagoon where they were cutting the road, not on the beach where the machinery was working… there was no sign of any kind of license or permit or even just a statement of who they were.”
According to CNN, a legal change has paved the way for the construction of resorts in environmentally protected areas.
“ Usually, the fact that wealthy people can get away with what they want to do is something that is hidden under some kind of language of public interest, extraordinary circumstances and so on. In fact, to write into the law that luxury resorts are exempt is quite extraordinary ,” said BirdLife’s Brunner. “This is one of the most brutal pieces of legislation I have seen in the environmental field in my career.”
Meanwhile, CNN has also received a response from the European Commission.
“ We have already expressed our concerns to the Minister of the Environment about the potential shortcomings of this project ,” a European Commission spokesperson told CNN regarding the development in the Pishë Poro-Nartë protected landscape. “Our concerns are not new… The repeated extension of the law on strategic investments (by Albania) continues to raise concerns about the potential environmental impacts, especially in protected areas.”
A European Commission spokesperson told CNN that Albania's environment ministry had "committed that construction works have been suspended." The spokesperson also noted that SPAK's anti-corruption investigations "are said to extend beyond environmental concerns."
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