Diplomacy
Balla meets new EU ambassador Sofia Moreira de Sousa: Membership remains a national strategic objective
Socialist Party parliamentary group leader Taulant Balla discussed the pace of negotiations and Parliament's role in aligning legislation with the new EU ambassador in Tirana.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 28, 2026, 14:36 · Updated 18:43 · 1 min read
In brief
- Taulant Balla received the new EU ambassador to Albania, Sofia Moreira de Sousa.
- The focus was on the accession agenda and keeping up the pace of negotiations.
- Balla stressed Parliament's role in reforms, alignment with the acquis and parliamentary oversight.
Taulant Balla, head of the parliamentary group of the Socialist Party (PS), met on Wednesday with the new European Union ambassador to Albania, Sofia Moreira de Sousa, ATSH (the Albanian Telegraphic Agency) reported. The meeting focused on the integration agenda and the progress of accession negotiations.
Parliament's role
In a social media post, Balla described the meeting as “a fruitful conversation.” He stressed that Parliament plays a key role in advancing reforms, aligning Albanian legislation with the EU acquis, the body of European law that candidate countries must adopt, and strengthening parliamentary oversight of their implementation. In his view, keeping up the pace of negotiations is especially important at a time when the government has announced the goal of closing the chapters by the end of 2027.
“A national strategic objective”
Balla underlined that EU membership remains a national strategic objective that requires sustained commitment, institutional responsibility and close cooperation with European partners. The sources do not include a public statement by the ambassador after the meeting.
The meeting took place in a tense political week, with daily protests in Tirana. Also on Wednesday, the head of the OSCE Presence, Michel Tarran, said the lack of dialogue is the main problem, especially for a country seeking EU membership. Moreira de Sousa recently took up her post as the European Union's representative in Tirana, while Balla, a former interior minister, leads the Socialist majority's group in Parliament.
