EU Commission - Key Findings - Report On North Macedonia (2023)
EU Commission - Key Findings - Report On North Macedonia (2023)
EU Commission - Key Findings - Report On North Macedonia (2023)
Key dates
June 2003: The EU-Western Balkans Thessaloniki Summit confirms the EU perspective for the
Western Balkans.
March 2004: North Macedonia submits its application for EU membership.
April 2004: The EU-North Macedonia Stabilisation and Association Agreement enters into force.
December 2005: The European Council grants North Macedonia candidate status for EU
membership.
October 2009: The European Commission recommends for the first time the opening of accession
negotiations.
December 2009: Visa-free travel to the Schengen area for citizens of the country.
March 2012: High Level Accession Dialogue with the Commission launched.
November 2015: The European Commission makes its recommendation to open EU accession
negotiation conditional on the continued implementation of the Pržino agreement and substantial
progress in the implementation of the "Urgent Reform Priorities".
April 2018: The European Commission recommends that the Council decides that accession
negotiations be opened with the country in light of the progress achieved.
June 2018: The Council sets out the path towards opening accession negotiations with the country
in June 2019, depending on progress made.
February 2019: The EU is notified officially about the entry into force of the Prespa agreement.
March 2020: The European Council decides to open accession negotiations with North Macedonia.
October 2020: The European Commission adopts an Economic & Investment Plan to support and
bring the Western Balkans closer to the EU.
July 2022: First Intergovernmental Conference on accession negotiations (IGC) - the analytical
examination of the acquis (“screening”) starts.
July 2023: The European Commission submits to the Council the screening report on the
Fundamentals cluster, including benchmarks for opening accession negotiations on this cluster.
November 2023: The Commission adopts a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
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