Bushati family

Moves by Italy to clamp down on Italian companies outsourcing work to Albania have alarmed the government in Tirana, which fears thousands of jobs are at risk.

An amendment that Italy passed on November to a law from 2012 on the rules about call centres raises fears that thousands of jobs in the call-centre sector could go.

Revelations made by the Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati that Greece and Albania had exchanged non-papers on the issue of ‘Tsamouria’, lands located in a region of western Greece that Albanian argues belong to citizens of Albanian descent who had been expelled from the area after collaborating with nazi-occupying forces in the second world war, have caused an uproar.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias has denied claims by his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati that the two countries submitted a non-paper to the European Union that included a reference to claims by the Cham community in Albania.

"The only reference in the non-paper," Kotzias told Alpha radio on Wednesday, "was that the issue is not negotiable for the Greek state."

Foreign ministers of Western Balkan countries met on Wednesday in Durres, Albania, with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn to discuss joint infrastructural projects financed by the EU.

The Durres meeting was the fourth such meeting of Western Balkan ministers in the so-called Berlin Process, a five-year process started in August 2014 marked by yearly summits.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz expects that after his country closes its borders to refugees the Balkans countries will do the same.

After meeting with Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati in Tirana, with Albania as the fourth country on his Balkan tour that began on Sunday night, Kurz said it was "theoretically possible that the refugee route would be diverted."

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met on Wednesday in Tirana with Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.

They spoke before the second trilateral meeting of foreign ministers of Serbia, Italy, and Albania.

Bulgaria is ready to help neighbouring Macedonia meet the requirements for joining the European Union and NATO, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said on Monday.   

He also said that increased migrant influx to Macedonia highlights the need to strengthen considerably the European integration of the countries of the western Balkans.

Despite anticipation of a speedy deal between Athens and Tirana on their maritime borders in the Ionian, Albania’s Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, warned on Wednesday that negotiations could take some time.

With Grexit now slowly receding in the rear view mirror, Greece’s radical leftist government is returning to more normal international contacts, as Greek FM Nikos Kotzias begins a tour of Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina this week.

On Tuesday, Kotzias will head to Pristina, where he will be received by Kosovo PM Isa Mustafa and his counterpart  Hashim Thaci.

Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati has spoken in favor of an international investigation into the events in Kumanovo.

This was reported on Friday by Albania's Top Channel TV outlet, Tanjug said.