Thewesternbalkans
Basic developments.
March 2004: North Macedonia submits its application for EU membership.
April 2004: The EU-North Macedonia Stabilisation and Association Agreement enters into force.
December 2005: The European Council grants North Macedonia candidate status for EU membership.
October 2009: The European Commission recommends for the first time the opening of accession negotiations.
April 2018: The European Commission recommends that the Council decides that accession negotiations be opened with the country in light of the progress achieved.
June 2018: The Council sets out the path towards opening accession negotiations with the country in June 2019, depending on progress made.
March 2020: The European Council decides to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia.
July 2022: First Intergovernmental Conference on accession negotiations (IGC) – the analytical examination of the acquis (“screening”) starts.
In its Report on the state of play of the accession process with Albania, issued on 8 of November 2023, the European Commission has pointed out following main conclusions:
Political criteria. Republic of North Macedonia (RNM) continued its efforts to strengthen democracy, while it faced significant challenges in the area of the rule of law. Overall, the legal framework remains conducive to the holding of democratic elections in North Macedonia. However, no progress was made to address and implement the outstanding recommendations by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Venice Commission. As mentioned repeatedly in previous reports, electoral legislation should be comprehensively reviewed to address inconsistencies in a timely, inclusive and transparent manner.
Parliament’s work was marred by political polarisation, which deepened further, delaying the adoption of many reform laws and important appointments. Parliament and government committed to launch and achieve as a matter of priority the relevant constitutional changes, with a view to including in the Constitution citizens who live within the borders of the state and who are part of other peoples, such as Bulgarians. Excessive and sometimes inappropriate use was made of fast-track procedures and of the ‘EU flag’ procedure, in some cases due to the lack of consultations and poor planning of the legislative calendar. Parliamentary oversight of the executive was regularly exercised through parliamentary questions to ministers.
Overall,civil society organisations (CSOs) in North Macedonia continue to operate in an enabling environment.
The country needs to strengthen its capacity for parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services.
RNM remains moderately prepared in terms of public administration reform. Limited progress was made in the reporting period with the adoption of the new public administration reform strategy and the accompanying action plan in July 2023.
The judicial system of RNM is in between some and moderate level of preparation. There was no progress on the judiciary during the reporting period. The lack of measures to address the impact of scheduled retirements affected efficiency. Most promotions for higher courts faced further delays.
The country is in between some and moderate level of preparation in the prevention and fight against corruption. No progress was made. Corruption remains prevalent in many areas and is an issue of concern.
On the other side the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption was proactive in providing public institutions with policy guidance on preventing corruption. It opened several cases, but its recommendations need to be followed up.
Republic of North Macedonia has some level of preparationin the fight against organised crime.The country continues to have a good level of operational cooperation with EU Members States, non-EU neighbouring countries, Europol and Eurojust. A new Law on money laundering and financing of terrorism entered into force in July 2022. Implementing legislation now needs to be drafted and adopted promptly.
Some progress was made in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism in line with the objectives set out in the joint action plan on counterterrorism for the Western Balkans and the new bilateral implementing arrangement. The national strategies for countering terrorism (2023-2027) and countering violent extremism (2023-2027) were adopted in May 2023, with the related action plans.
North Macedonia is on one of the main transit routes for migration movements. The country continues to play an active role in the management of mixed migration flows. There is, however, a need to enhance institutional and administrative capacities for all aspects of migration management. The Status Agreement for operational cooperation in border management with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) entered into force on 1 April 2023, allowing the launch of a joint operation with the deployment of officers from EU Member States to provide support with border control and the management of irregular migration and cross-border crime.
The legal framework on the protection of fundamental rights is partially aligned with the EU acquis and standards on fundamental rights. The country continues to meet its general obligations on fundamental rights, but the legislation should be implemented in a more systematic manner. Services for victims of gender-based violence still need reinforcement and proper funding to meet the standards laid down by the Istanbul Convention. Persons with disabilities continue to face direct and indirect discrimination, social exclusion, and barriers. Special attention should be given to promoting non-discrimination, increasing effectiveness in addressing hate crime and hate speech and strengthening the capacity and independence of institutions in charge of protecting the rights of persons belonging to minorities or communities.
RNM is in between some and moderate level of preparation in the area of freedom of expression. Overall, it made limited progress. The general context is favourable to media freedom and allows for critical media reporting.
On the economic criteria, North Macedonia has made some progress and is at a good level of preparation in developing a functioning market economy.
The government supported households and businesses through large-scale energy subsidies, tax reductions and targeted direct income support. Owing to an inflation-driven boost to tax income and under-execution of several expenditure categories, the general government deficit remained below the revised target.
The central bank tightened its policy stance further in view of still elevated inflationary pressures, which began to subside gradually towards the end of 2022 and beyond. The current account deficit rose substantially as energy import prices surged, but external financing needs were met with the help of market-based and IMF borrowing. The Organic Budget Law (OBL)adopted in September 2022 provides for the introduction of fiscal rules and a fiscal council, strengthening fiscal sustainability. However, progress has been slow in implementing wider-ranging measures to improve the management of public investment, vital for underpinning the government’s plans for a sizeable increase in capital expenditure.
The banking sector was resilient throughout the crises.
The labour market showed some improvement, but structural problems persist, including high youth and long-term unemployment and a large gender gap. The business environment continued to be impeded by the large size of the informal economy, slow progress in streamlining parafiscal charges and an untransparent and inefficient State aid regime.
RNM has made some progress and is moderately prepared to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU. Integration with the EU in trade and investment remained at a high level. The share of high-value products in exports increased further and trade openness surged to a record high. There was further progress in improving vocational educational training, but major skills shortages persist relative to labour market needs, entailing long school-to-work transitions. These, coupled with large gaps in transport and energy infrastructure, low investment, and low innovation funding, are restricting potential growth.
Digitalisation of the economy is advancing, but the competitiveness of domestic businesses could be improved through a wider offering of public e-Services.
As regards its ability to assume the obligations of membership, North Macedonia is moderately prepared in most of the areas covered bycluster 2 on the internal market, namely the free movement of goods, services and capital, intellectual property, competition policy, financial services and consumer and health protection. The country has achieved a good level of preparation on company law, although it is still at an early stage on freedom of movement for workers. North Macedonia made good progress on free movement of capital and some progress on financial services and consumer and health protection. Limited progress was made on the free movement of goods, rights of establishment to provide services. No progress was made on company law, intellectual property law and competition policy and freedom of movement for workers.
The overall conclusion of the European Commission is that, North Macedonia is moderately prepared in most of the areas covered by cluster 3 on competitiveness and inclusive growth, including digital transformation and media, taxation, social policy and employment, and enterprise and industrial policy. The country is in between a moderate and a good level of preparationin the area of economic and monetary policy.
RNM has a good level of preparation in the areas of science and research and customs union.
On cluster 4 on the green agenda and sustainable connectivity, RNM has a good level of preparation on trans-European networks and some level of preparation on environment and climate change. The country is moderately prepared on transport and energy policy with some progress made on energy, particularly on regional gas interconnectors and on renewables.
RNM is moderately prepared in most areas of cluster 5 on resources, agriculture and cohesion. It has a good level of preparation on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy and is at an early stage of preparation in financial and budgetary provisions.
Concerning cluster 6 on external relations, North Macedonia is moderately prepared in the area of external relations and has reached a good level of preparation on the common foreign and security policy. It has made good progress by maintaining full alignment with EU common foreign and security policy. By doing so, North Macedonia has shown itself to be a reliable partner, including at international level.
On regional cooperation, the country maintained good relations with other enlargement countries and continued its engagement in regional initiatives. Existing bilateral agreements need to be implemented in good faith by all parties, including the Prespa Agreement between North Macedonia and Greece and the Treaty of Friendship, Good-Neighbourliness and Cooperation with Bulgaria.
COMMENTS:
In Skopje, they clearly rely on such a report and can congratulate themselves on success. A relatively positive report, from which one can expect a real start of negotiations in the RSM, regardless of the fact that there is no progress in the protection of the rights of minorities, including the Bulgarians.
If the next reports continue in the same spirit, one fine day we will wake up with the RNM as a new member of the EU. It should be taken into account that the RNM is not only a loyal partner in the foreign and security policy of the EU, but also presents itself as a loyal member of NATO, which may prove to be of great weight in the further process of EU enlargement.
One of the biggest problem is the lack of consensus between political forces in RNM about the EU integration. The conclusion is that “The EU accession negotiation process requires broad consensus of major political parties. All parties need to start engaging in a constructive and inclusive political debate, to strengthen the role of Parliament”.
