Edi Rama

Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was visiting Puglia in southern Italy, told the online edition of Corriere Della Sera on Tuesday that Albania would welcome Syrian refugees - although refugees crossing the Balkans towards Germany had largely bypassed Albania so far.

The OSCE said on Saturday that the report alleging wrongdoing by 36 Albanian MPs, prepared in October 2014 and leaked last week to the Lapsi.al website, "contained information circulating in the country and was not the official view of the organisation".

Albaian environmentalists have voiced dismay over the government's decision to give initial approval to the proposal of a Turkish company, paving the way for a concessionary agreement to build the Pocem Hydropower plant on the Vjosa River.

The company in question is Çinar-San Hafriyat Nakliyat In?aat Turizm Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited ?irketi.

Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama pledged to work together to establish a cross-Balkans youth cooperation office aimed at improving strained relations between countries in the region.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama agreed on a number of issues as they took part in a television program.

Their stands remained distant only with regard to Kosovo, Tanjug said in its report about the broadcast, called "Okruzenje".

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama continued to add fuel to the fire in terms of his socialist government’s relations with Athens, this time speaking in an interview to Albanian site Blakaned.

“They are hilarious to the point of tears, considering a garage-like structure to be a church and protesting because we are restoring our national heritage,” said the Albanian PM.

Albanian police have demolished a contested church dedicated to St Athanas in the southern village of Dhermi, angering the Orthodox Church and neighbouring Greece, which supports the Church's mission.

The Orthodox Church called it a vandalistic act of desecration and a violation of church property. Greece said the Albanians were behaving like Islamist extremists.

Albania’s socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama seems to be inflaming the relations between Greece and his country, after posting a provocative tweet on his account regarding Greece’s official complaint about the demolition of a Greek-Orthodox Church and skirmishes between locals and Albanian authorities.

The Greek Foreign Ministry on Sunday condemned what it called a "violent incident" at the church of Saint Athanas in the Albanian village of Dhermi, describing what happened as "unacceptable and contemptible".

Construction police from the local Himara Municipality went to Dhermi on Friday to remove the concrete roof of the church, claiming it was an illegal build.

The Prime Ministers of Serbia and Albania are to clash in a TV debate on August 31 in Vienna, following months of resurged tensions between the two leaders.