Brussels, 6 July 2022 (MIA) - North Macedonia should undergo another round of the explanatory screening on the new EU acquis adopted since 2019, European Commission spokeswoman Ana Pisonero said. If North Macedonia accepts the French proposal on the negotiating framework, the country should undergo yet another round of explanatory screening, which will focus on the new legislation adopted since 2019 until now on all chapters, MIA's Brussels correspondent reports. "This will be followed by the bilateral screening," Pisonero told MIA. North Macedonia and Albania had meetings on the explanatory screening regarding the EU acquis from 2018 until 2019. Launched in September 2018, the meetings lasted less than a year. The explanatory screening involves an European Commission team to present the EU's legislation (acquis communautaire) to candidates countries preparing to open negotiations. The explanatory screening is followed by a bilateral screening. It is a phase in which the candidate country takes active part unlike the explanatory, where the European Commission has the lead role. "In line with the Council Conclusions, the Commission carried out the technical explanation of the EU acquis between 2018 and 2019. Therefore the explanatory screening will focus on the new EU acquis adopted since then. This will be followed by the bilateral screening where the Commission will review, together with country counterparts, those areas of the EU acquis in which progress is needed," said spokeswoman Pisonero. The EU legislation is expanded constantly with new laws and court decisions. Since there was no explanatory screening for North Macedonia and Albania since 2019, the two countries should hold this process before being invited to a bilateral screening. The bilateral screening usually takes nearly two years.