News
10/31/2022 06:00
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European Affairs, Bojan Maricik, today attended the joint session of the Commission for European Affairs and the National Council for European Integration, where the Report of the European Commission for North Macedonia for 2022 was discussed.
The Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs and Chief Negotiator with the EU, Maricik, expressed his satisfaction with the holding of the session and said that the Government firmly stands by the position that the negotiation process for full membership with the European Union must be inclusive and transparent, with the inclusion of all social stakeholders in this process.
- I believe that this is the right place, where we should discuss the Report and where the messages on how to proceed should come from, especially now, when we are a negotiating country for full membership in the European Union. Therefore, as the main negotiator, I will initiate the establishment of a framework for cooperation with the Parliament and strengthen its role in the process, said Maricik.
He added that he expects full commitment from the deputies and a helping hand to jointly overcome the challenges that follow on the European integration path and readiness to give the maximum for the final achievement of our three-decade strategic goal.
- Only united will we be able to fulfil this national task. The negotiation process is a process of overall social transformation that touches all of us and all aspects of social life. Therefore, I believe that only with a national consensus and maximum investment of the Government as the bearer of the negotiations, but also the administration which is the backbone of the process, civil society, Parliament, businesses, the academic community and all other stakeholders will we fulfil the commitment to be ready for full membership in the Union until 2030, Deputy Prime Minister Maricik said.
EU Ambassador Geer welcomed the Government's steps in solving the open issues with the neighbours and in implementing continuous and sustainable reforms that put us on the right path to achieve one of the strategic priorities of our country, with a request to stay on this path and focus to the remarks of the Report.
In his address, Deputy Prime Minister Maricik referred to the analysis of the Report by the Secretariat for European Affairs, according to which he said that we have a positive Report, the first since the opening of the negotiations on July 19 of this year, which, according to him, is objective and unequivocally points to the fact that we have sustainable reforms, with noted clear progress and achievements in them, but also identifies the areas where we need to increase our efforts even more and deliver more results.
In terms of overall readiness, the rating for our country for 2022 is "good level of preparedness". When it comes to progress, the general assessment is that in about 90% of the areas, we have partial or good preparedness. The report assesses that North Macedonia has maintained the pace of progress and there is improvement in 23 out of a total of 43 areas, i.e. chapters, while in the remaining 20 areas there is limited or less progress, Maricik pointed out, adding that this shows that North Macedonia has stable continuity in the overall preparedness and progress of the country, despite all the internal and external challenges that we face as a country or as part of the global world, which is an additional motive and incentive for us.
Maricik mentioned that the European Commission states that the screening process is ongoing and uninterrupted, and the country shows a high level of commitment and reiterated that the whole process of negotiations will be conducted transparently and expects the involvement of everyone in it.
- Be sure that we will discuss all the findings and recommendations in the Report together and they will be used as a basis for updating the National Program for the adoption of the first EU together with the EU law that is presented at the explanatory meetings. This document will be revised by the end of the year and will be the basis for the preparation of the country's negotiating positions, Maricik pointed out to the people's representatives.
At the session, which was also attended by the European Ambassador to the country, David Geer, as well as the diplomatic corps, the Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator with the Union expressed his gratitude to the European Ambassador Geer and his team, who provide us with unreserved support, with the assurance that North Macedonia will continue all implement reforms in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union, the services of the European Commission and the member states.