Zvërnec sparks debate, Rama confronts US senator: You are distorting the facts, viral outrage

Prime Minister Edi Rama has responded to US Senator Bernie Sanders following the latter's statements about the protests against the Zvërnec project, accusing him of using Albania as an example in the domestic political debate in the US and relying on incorrect information.

Sanders had called the planned project an example of "global oligarchy," referring to the investment linked to Jared Kushner and partners from Qatar, as well as environmental protests in Albania.

In his reaction, Rama emphasizes that there is still no approved project or building permit and that everything is in the planning phase, adding that work is being done for sustainable tourism development with economic benefits and respect for the environment.

He invites Sanders to come to Albania to see the reality up close, insisting that the country should not become a "foreign political argument."

Rama defends the idea that development and nature protection can go hand in hand and that decisions will be made according to Albanian laws and environmental standards, not according to political narratives or "news headlines."

Rama's reaction:

With all due respect, Senator, Albania is a country, not an argument in the American political debate. I sincerely appreciate your interest, but the facts on the ground are somewhat different from what the headlines reflect. And when headlines become the primary source of information, half-truths tend to turn into ever-greater lies, reinforced by the same platforms about whose distorting power you yourself have often raised public concerns.

(The fact that less than 10,000 protesters turned into 100,000 in your post is probably the least harmful exaggeration among many.)

There is still no approved project, no building permit, and no final design. What exists today is a planning process where some of the world's most renowned architects, landscape designers, environmental experts, and social impact consultants are working on a vision for sustainable elite tourism, with measurable environmental benefits, more green spaces, more trees, and better outcomes for biodiversity.

Dissent is legitimate. Environmental scrutiny is welcome. That's how democracies are supposed to work. But declaring an environmental disaster before it exists is something else entirely.

What will be built on the Albanian coast will be determined by our vision, our laws, our institutions, and will be debated by our own citizens. But we will never be held hostage to fear to dream, think, and invest on a grand scale.

Our challenge is not to choose between nature and development, but to prove that nature can be regenerated and development can be reinvented, building with nature and not against it, for the good of people and the environment.

We welcome serious investors who come to build, create jobs, raise living standards and respect our rules. What we don't need is imported anger, ideological reflexes or the transformation of Albania into a prop for someone else's political theater.

Facts first. Always.

Because Albania is not a backdrop for foreign political battles. It is a small, but proud and free country that makes its own choices and determines its own future.

And, having said that, I hope you will remember Albania even after the headlines have passed. I hope you will even come and visit our beautiful country for yourself, which is facing the historic challenge of soon becoming a proud member of the European Union, where no project that impacts nature can move forward without meeting some of the most stringent environmental standards, assessments, and legal requirements in the democratic world.

This is precisely why we should trust facts, institutions, and due process more than headlines, assumptions, and viral outrage.

And perhaps, since you've spent so many years warning about the dangers of disinformation, you might also appreciate that reality deserves at least as much opportunity to be heard as the stories that are told about it.

Let me say that this is a good reason to invite you as our guest in Albania, where, as it is said in the ancient Albanian Kanun, the home belongs to God and to the friend.