The Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and the First Deputy Chair of the Committee Vadym Halaichuk met with the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Elisa Spiropali; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani, and the Chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the Albanian Parliament, Iorida Tabaku.

The meetings took place on the sidelines of the COSAP platform committee meeting on European integration of the Western Balkan countries in the Albania capital, Tirana. Candidate countries from other regions, including Ukraine, were also present.

The Chair and First Deputy Chair of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU received assurances of strong support for Ukraine from their Albanian colleagues. “We invited colleagues from the European Integration Committee to visit Ukraine to streamline communication with their society, aiming to maintain and strengthen support for Ukraine,” said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze.

She noted that the meeting with the Chair of the Committee on European Affairs of the Albanian Parliament, Iorida Tabaku, was both important and productive. Albania’s experience can be valuable to Ukraine in the current political context. By law and tradition, the Chair of the European Integration Committee in the Albanian Parliament is a representative of the opposition party. Today, Albania has two main political forces — the ruling Social Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party. Both were established after the collapse of the communist dictatorship in the early 1990s. “These political forces are pro-European but differ in their views on tactical and practical steps needed. This leads to a challenging political dialogue. Much of it occurs behind closed doors, considering the need for unity to achieve the European integration goal. Both the government and the opposition are committed to advancing the country towards membership in the European Union. This experience is certainly valuable for Ukraine,” said the head of the Committee on Integration of Ukraine into the EU.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze and Vadym Halaichuk thanked their Albanian colleagues for the unanimous support for Ukraine. “The clear, unwavering position of Albania in supporting Ukraine is valuable to us. There are no radical movements there that would undermine the position of the state, which is a NATO member, regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. They firmly support us and consider this war as aggressive and absolutely unprovoked. And we are grateful for their help on Ukraine’s path to the European community,” concluded the Head of the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU.