Skopje, 9 November 2023 (MIA) - The EC report on North Macedonia aims to provide a clear and objective assessment of progress. While it highlights some areas of progress, it is also very frank about those areas where there has not been progress or limited progress, especially in those areas we consider to be so important that we describe them as the fundamentals in the accession negotiations process, such as the rule of law, the fight against corruption, public administration reform, fundamental human rights, EU Ambassador David Geer told a joint press conference with Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj, on the European Commission's North Macedonia 2023 Report. 

"The report is frank, but fair. By doing so, we want to give encouragement to the authorities, the state institutions, or political actors to do more, much more, to advance on reforms in the interest of citizens and in the interest of the path to the European Union," said Geer.  

The report, which covers the period of the late autumn of 2022 to summer 2023, comes in a context of considerable momentum on enlargement, particularly following Russia's illegal war on Ukraine, there is a clear understanding that enlargement is in our mutual interest, said Geer. It is about prosperity and democracy, but also about stability and security. Yesterday's historic recommendations, the EU Ambassador added, concerning the opening of the accession negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova are yet more evidence of this.  

"We want North Macedonia to benefit from this momentum. The report also comes in a context of opportunity, notably with the Commission's proposal for a Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. We want North Macedonia to benefit from this opportunity," Geer said.  

Turning to the substance of the report, he noted, it's very comprehensive and runs to some 120 pages. As regards the political criteria, the overall conclusion from the report notes that North Macedonia continued its efforts to strengthen democracy while it faced significant challenges in the area of the rule of law.  

Deputy PM Bojan Marichikj told Thursday's press conference that the 2023 Enlargement Package presented yesterday, unlike the previous years, in addition to the enlargement strategy and the separate reports for each candidate country with a detailed overview of overall readiness and progress, includes another important document - the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, thus introducing a new additional dynamics in the process of EU integration.    

"We strongly welcome the published Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. For the first time, we have reserved money related to the reforms. EUR 6 billion for the whole region, of which EUR 1 billion can be available for North Macedonia. The Growth Plan will strengthen the regional economy, and thus the differences with the economies of the EU member states will be reduced faster," said Marichikj.  

The Growth Plan, he added, enables access to the European Common Market. This means that our products and services will be placed on the single European market under the same conditions with the EU member states, even before our formal EU membership.  

"The Growth Plan is a result of our requests and efforts. For some time as a candidate country, we have been asking the EU, just as the other candidate countries in the region, to be able to use the opportunities and privileges of joining the EU ahead of time, i.e. while the negotiations are ongoing. This was the topic of faster integration or more integration before membership. Our ultimate goal, both of the EU and the country, is to make the first transfer of money to North Macedonia and to other countries in the Western Balkan region by March 2024. This means that if we continue and if we accelerate the reforms and the integration process, we'll have the first transfer from the new package in five months from now," Marichikj said.  

The Growth Plan is a financial and political investment of the EU in North Macedonia and the region, Deputy PM Marichikj pointed out.

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