site.btaConstitutional Changes Key to Start of Skopje's Accession Negotiations, EU Ambassador Says

The non-paper that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed during the EU - Western Balkans Summit in Montenegro does not modify North Macedonia's existing Negotiating Framework, and the adoption of constitutional revisions is a key prerequisites for the start of EU accession negotiations with the country, the EU Ambassador to North Macedonia Michalis Rokas said, quoted by the media in Skopje.

During a visit to Stip, Rokas reiterated that the negotiating framework, agreed in 2022, clearly indicates the insertion of Bulgarians into North Macedonia's basic law as the starting point of negotiations with the EU.

"The constitutional revisions will be followed by an intergovernmental conference ahead of the start of official negotiations. I am convinced that North Macedonia can advance rapidly on the path to the EU depending on the reforms that it will implement," Rokas reportedly said.

In his words, the non-paper proposed by Germany and France does not provide for new conditions for EU accession negotiations but rather systematizes the steps in the integration process.

"The message of the Tivat Summit is that enlargement is a living, vibrant and urgent process. Candidate countries should not miss this opportunity," the EU Ambassador said.

He finds that Skopje has speeded up the reform process but recalled that the final assessment will come from the European Commission.

Regarding the Action Plan on National Minorities and Communities in North Macedonia, Rokas stressed that this document is is in the assessment phase and, together with the Rule of Law Roadmap, figures among the prerequisites for opening the clusters.

In recent days, the Action Plan on National Minorities and Communities in North Macedonia has often been mentioned by Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and Foreign Minister Timco Mucunski as "yet another obstacle posed by Bulgaria" to the beginning of their country's EU accession talks. 

"The Action Plan on Minorities is ready, it has been consulted with a human rights expert recommended by the European Commission. There were two public hearings - something that any country has rarely ever done. Unofficially, the document has been cleared with 26 Member States, with a single exception. That same Member States opposes our joining the Three Seas Initiative. That's what the reality is," Mickoski said over the weekend.