Institute for Democracy: EU screening finished 32 months ago, authorities must focus on reforms

The Institute for Democracy "Societas Civilis" urged North Macedonian authorities to step up reformas after the EU screening process, which began in 2022 and concluded in December 2023, finished "32 months ago" and left the country with a clear list of alignment tasks.

The screening delivered a detailed diagnosis of how national law and practice measure up against European Union standards and produced concrete recommendations for closing gaps ahead of membership.

"The screening must not remain an archive of a completed phase of the accession process. Its true value lies in the recommendations that should steer reforms and preparation for membership. Political obstacles to opening negotiating clusters do not prevent the state from working on most of the identified weaknesses," the Institute said.

The Institute called on the Ministry of European Affairs to make all six screening reports easily accessible in one place, together with their main findings and recommendations in Macedonian. Although the European Commission has published the reports for all six clusters, the Ministry's website still hosts only the report for Cluster 1, "Foundations."

"A clear mechanism is needed by which the screening recommendations are converted into concrete tasks. The Government should periodically report on implementation of the recommendations. Further, the screening recommendations should be systematically linked to the Reform Agenda 2024–2027, the National Programme for the Adoption of EU Acquis and the recommendations from the European Commission's annual reports," the Institute added.

Operational negotiating structures must work now

The Institute also said North Macedonia must fully operationalize its negotiating architecture so that working groups and cluster bodies can start preparing positions and implementing reforms even if political conditions for opening clusters are not yet met.

"If the Government in 2024 established a new institutional framework for conducting accession negotiations, the public still does not have a clear picture of whether and to what extent negotiating bodies and working groups by clusters and chapters are fully staffed and functional. The MEA should provide transparent information on which bodies and working groups have been formed, their composition and the tasks they perform. These structures should not wait for political conditions to be created for opening the clusters. They should work now. To analyse screening findings, to monitor changes in EU law, to identify areas that will require significant financial and institutional adjustments or transitional periods and to prepare future negotiating positions," the Institute said.

Photo: ''Sloboden pechat'' - Dragan Mitreski