Stefan Andonovski: We sent the draft EU roaming agreement with comments and expect a quick reply
Minister Andonovski says a framework and draft text were submitted to the European Commission and that negotiations on joining the EU "Roam like at Home" scheme continue.
North Macedonia has sent a draft agreement on roaming with the European Union to the European Commission, including a set of comments, and expects a response soon, Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski said at a press conference.
Andonovski said talks with the Commission have begun to remove roaming costs for Macedonian citizens travelling to EU countries so they can use mobile internet, voice and SMS under the same conditions as at home.
“A week ago we brought to the Government both a framework and a draft agreement with the EU, which means we already have the text of the draft agreement; we returned it with comments to the European Commission. That is the way negotiations are conducted, and I expect that in a short period we will receive a reply so we can see where we can find common ground on some of the comments we had and then proceed to signing and ratification of the agreement,” Andonovski said in response to journalists’ questions.
Procedure and regional scope
The European Commission has launched negotiations with six Western Balkan partners on extending the EU’s “Roam like at Home” scheme. The talks cover North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. The initiative was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her October visit to the region.
After bilateral agreements are concluded and national legislation is fully aligned with EU roaming rules, the Commission will ask the Council of the EU to approve each country’s inclusion in the common system. Once included, citizens of the Western Balkan countries would be able to use calls, SMS and mobile data in EU states under the terms of their domestic subscriber packages; the same rules would apply to EU citizens travelling to the Western Balkans.
Andonovski also said the ministry is expanding e‑services for both business and citizens. He mentioned a new registry of authorisations as a useful tool for companies and said that, in parallel, new services for citizens will be developed. “I expect that the first services we will promote will be services from the Ministry of Interior,” he added.
Photo: press material from the event
