TIRANA, Sept  30 /ATA/ – By Maela Marini/ The chairman of the SP parliamentary group, Taulant Balla, held a meeting on Friday with the Parliament Speaker of North Macedonia, Talat Xhaferri, and the chairmen of the majority and opposition groups.

In his capacity as the chairman of the SP parliamentary delegation, Balla is making an official visit to North Macedonia to discuss the role played by the Assemblies of the two countries in the European integration process.

“We have an excellent cooperation with the Assembly of North Macedonia. I emphasize that North Macedonia is not only a very important neighbor for us, but also a country that year after year plays a very important role in terms of regional integration,” said Balla.

He also appreciated the role of North Macedonia as a reliable factor of peace and stability in the Western Balkans.

“We are on a visit with deputies representing all regions with the aim of coordination between the two assemblies, on the role that the Assembly should play in the process of European integration, in this new phase after July 19, when both Albania and North Macedonia received the green light for holding the first Intergovernmental Conference,” said Balla.

He thanked the leaders of North Macedonia for the tough but appropriate decisions that were taken to unblock the veto imposed by Bulgaria and to proceed on the basis of a project that will be implemented until the next  negotiating meeting.

Balla requested that the Parliaments of the two countries should improve the legislations to prevent funding of political parties and media from Russia.

“Amid the war in Ukraine, we need to adopt common approaches in coping with this very difficult challenge, not only due to the direct impact such as war inflation, the energy crunch, the soaring prices, the oil crisis, but I think there is also another challenge that we are aware of. As recently as yesterday in Montenegro, justice institutions took immediate steps to prevent Russian interference in Montenegro. The truth is that even in Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other EU member countries, there are attempts by Russia to meddle in democratic processes,” said Balla.

/sm/