Brussels, 15 September 2022 (MIA) – North Macedonia’s negotiating team will refresh its knowledge of the EU legislation during the explanatory screening that is set to take place in Brussels and Luxembourg on September 15-16, MIA reports from Brussels. The team, headed by chief negotiator and Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj, also including representatives of the Secretariat for European Affairs and competent institutions, will take part in the explanatory screening, which was last held back in 2019. The explanatory screening will be held alongside the Albanian team but the two countries will be separated when the bilateral screening process begins in about two months’ time. The objective of the explanatory screening is to inform countries’ teams on the current and new EU legislation, updated laws, rulings and decisions in every chapter of the acquis. On Thursday, the meeting in Brussels will focus on Chapter 5 – Public Procurement, while on Friday, the teams will head to Luxembourg for a meeting on Chapter 18 – Statistics, both part of the first cluster known as Fundamentals. The European Commission has told MIA they remain fully committed to the enhancement of the EU process with North Macedonia and Albania. “This is the first significant step in the negotiating process, fully supported by the governments and parliaments of both countries,” said EC Spokesperson Ana Pisonero. The explanatory screenings will be followed by the bilateral ones, during which the negotiating country must present the progress made in each of the chapters of the acquis, followed by an EC report assessing the progress, a document that should be adopted by Union members, i.e. the Council. The bilateral screening could begin sometime in November and finish by the end of 2023, with North Macedonia meanwhile set to make constitutional changes by incorporating the Bulgarian community, as prerequisite for the opening of the negotiating chapters.