Tomorrow, a delegation of 40 members consisting of representatives from various ministries and institutions and led by Vice-Premier Bujar Osmani, will travel to Brussels at the European Commission, which will start the screening process for Chapter 23 – judiciary and fundamental rights. Also, the Justice Minister Renata Deskoska will accompany the delegation.
The opening of the first out of 33 chapters in the first phase means that there will be 33 visits in Brussels or over 1000 people that will take part in this screening. Soon after, the second phase will commence i.e. a bilateral screening that is even more complex and voluminous.
The process is expected to end by June 2019 when it is expected for the negotiations for an EU accession to start.
In order to allow everyone who is willing to help during the screening and negotiating processes, the Government has issued a Call for creating a Registry of Experts. All of the interested parties should submit their CV and motivational letter by the 10th of October along with the stated Chapter or a subject that they are experts of.
The European Commission issued a report on the 17th of April and it gave its recommendation for Macedonia to start its negotiations with the EU.
On the 26th of June, the European Council supported the decision for a conditioned start of the negotiations with Macedonia, which should start in June 2019. That will depend if 4 conditions are met – implementation of urgent reformatory priorities, implementation of the name agreement, positive report from the European Commission and a decision from the EU Council.
