A Political and Media Discourse Analysis on Albania’s European Integration

by Ervis ILJAZAJ

Dean, Faculty of Law, Political Scienceand International Relations, UET

Abstract
The integration process has always been one of the most important political and strategic priorities of the country. In the parliamentary elections of May 2025, European integration was once again at the center of the electoral campaign. The Socialist Party used Albania’s EU accession as a political slogan for its campaign. EU integration has often been used by political parties as an instrument of political legitimacy as opposed to undertaking a genuine commitment to accelerate this process. The aim of this article is to analyze the approach of political parties towards Albania’s EU integration, as well as the role that the media has played in shaping public opinion and transmitting this discourse. The findings of this article show that, despite presenting themselves as committed to integration, political parties have utilised this issue for electoral purposes rather than provide a substantive explanation of it. The approach of political forces regarding EU integration has not been cooperative but rather polarizing. Even in the 2025 campaign, the integration issue served more as a source of conflict than of political cooperation. This context has influenced the media, which reflected this process in a fragmented manner and without the necessary objectivity to serve the public interest. The study concludes that European integration in the 2025 electoral campaign served as political confrontation rather than consensus. The use of European integration as a political and media strategy by political parties has directly influenced citizens’ perceptions of this process.

Keywords: EU integration, media, political parties, political polarization, publicopinion, electoral campaign, political discourse.

https://doi.org/10.58944/elhm2891