Jozefina Çoba Topalli is an Albanian politician and was the Chairwoman of the Parliament of Albania, since September 3, 2005, and vice-president of the Democratic Party of Albania.
Education
Jozefina Çoba Topalli graduated from Luigj Gurakuqi University in Shkodra with a double major in mathematics and law. She subsequently studied international relations at the University of Padua in Italy and acquired a master"s degree from the University of Tirana in public administration and in European Studies. In 2010, she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Tirana, with a dissertation on the topic of “The Role of the National Parliament in the process of European integration of the country”.
Career
She is fluent in English, Russian, French and Italian. From 1992 to 1995 she worked at the Chamber of Commerce in the city of Shkodër, and in 1995-1996 she was chancellor and lecturer at the Luigj Gurakuqi University in Shkodra. In 2005, Topalli was elected President of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania, and retained her position in 2009.
Since 1996, Topalli is Deputy Chair of the Democratic Party of Albania.
Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli Çoba is the first woman Speaker of the Albanian Parliament in all the parliamentary history of the country, and the sixth Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania in the pluralistic parliamentary history since 1991. She assumed her duty in September 2005, and was re-elected as Speaker of Parliament for a second four-year mandate in September 2009.
In two previous consecutive legislatures (1997–2001. 2001–2005), Topalli served as Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
In September 2005, in her speech at the oath-taking ceremony as Speaker of the Albanian Assembly, Jozefina Çoba Topalli, underlined her steady determination to be an advocate of the opposition, too.
In the framework of parliamentary diplomacy, a novelty the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament brought into Albanian political life, Jozefina Topalli was engaged in the acceleration of the ratification by the European Union states parliaments of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between Albania and European Union, as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization protocols for the accession of Albania into the North Atlantic alliance. She continues her lobbying for the recognition of the Republic of Kosovo.
Membership
Topalli has been a member of the national legislature since 1997. At the 1996 Albanian parliamentary election Topalli was elected as member of parliament for the Democratic Party of Albania. She was subsequently re-elected four times.
She has been member of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Family, and also as Deputy President of the Children’s Committee.