Strasbourg, 8 July 2025 (MIA) - North Macedonia is a country that came through the Balkan wars of the 90s without massive outbreaks of violence. Even though this country is a very diverse country that constitutes of different peoples, different ethnicities and different religions, still they managed to form a peaceful society. North Macedonia was once a frontrunner, 20 years ago when they started their accession process, frontrunner together with Slovenia, Austrian MEP Thomas Waitz said Tuesday in his address to the European Parliament during a debate on his draft report on the 2023 and 2024 Commission reports on North Macedonia.

"Where is Slovenia today, and what happened to North Macedonia? Well, some obstacles were on the way. Obstacles related to history, obstacles related to wars in the last century, obstacles in terms of building good bilateral relations to their neighbours. But good bilateral relations always need to be built on both sides, that is very clear," Waitz added. 

He pointed out that although the country has 20 years of accession path and has already implemented quite a substantial amount of the EU acquis, EU negotiations have not formally started yet.  

"If you look into them being a partner for the European Union, they have been a reliable partner to us. They are sharing our common foreign and security policy a hundred percent, they have been joining NATO, they have been joining our common efforts that we have in the European Union, and especially today when we see the geostrategical situation, when we see that we Europeans understand that we need to defend our destiny by ourselves, and that we Europeans need to stand together in the light of what globally is happening, especially in this light I think we should look into speeding up the accession process with North Macedonia," said the Austrian MEP. 

Waitz said the report covers a full picture of where the country is, in some parts the report is commending, in other parts it is still demanding reforms. Also, he noted, the report talks a lot about hate speech, about hate crime, about need for prosecution, about the need for rule of law, and the need to fight corruption.   

"The report talks a lot about the constitutional amendments, which is demanded to start accession talks. Constitutional amendments that include additional minorities into the Constitution, also the Bulgarian one," said Waitz. 

He added that the document is talking about the economic situation that has positive sides, but also downsides, as well as the lack of ability to uptake the support that comes from the European Union at a time when the country needs to invest into professional structures and keep professional people who have once shown that they can.  

"This country is full of amazing natural heritage, mountains, lakes, cultural sites, but unfortunately the country is also full of waste, illegal waste deposits and pollution. Yes, there is bettering of the situation, but still there's a lot to do," Waitz concluded. 

He said the civil society in the country still has space to work, but there is also a lot of foreign influence. "And we have to fight against foreign influence, whether it's Russian, Chinese, Saudi Arabian, Serbian, wherever from, because people need to decide upon their own destiny. We talk about media, also on the need for transparency in the ownership of media, and we talk about the potential this country has," he added. 

"This report is an important stepping stone towards EU accession, and I hope that many of you tommorow at the vote will support this report, will support the accession of North Macedonia to the European Union, at least the next step that we can take in a constructive and united and pro-Eurpopean manner," Waitz said. 

Photo: MIA archive