The EU Parliament today adopted its annual report on Albania, sending one of its strongest messages yet on the importance of protecting nature, upholding environmental safeguards and ensuring that EU standards are respected throughout the accession process.

Serious environmental damage is currently taking place in the Vjosa-Narta protected area in Albania. Since the end of April, bulldozers and excavators have been operating in the core area of the protected landscape, clearing coastal forests, removing dunes and cutting new access roads through previously untouched habitats.

The first comparable regional assessment in over a decade documents the deterioration of Europe's last wild rivers, with pristine stretches dropping from 30% to 23% since 2012 - a staggering loss of 2,450 river kilometres. Albania’s rivers have deteriorated faster than those of any other Balkan country, largely due to hydropower and river regulation.