Skopje, 18 January 2023 (MIA) – We all need to show that our vision and desire to make North Macedonia a EU member state by 2030 is realistic and more important than anything else when it comes to our future, Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj said on Wednesday.

Referring to the screening process, Deputy PM Marichikj said it is in an advanced phase and going according to the calendar determined together with the European Commission.

“We finalized the key cluster Fundamentals, and we will begin bilateral screening meetings for three chapters on Monday – Right of establishment and freedom to provide services, Company law and Intellectual property law, which represent important parts of the Internal Market cluster,” said Marichikj.

The screening, as he said, gives us a precise analytical presentation of the condition in terms of the harmonization of our legislation with the European law, as well as helping us note our shortcomings and define the next tasks for us to work on over the upcoming period so that we can achieve European standards.

“We will ask for the screening report for the first cluster to be delivered to us by the end of the next three months at the latest, by the start of spring, because it will help us draft three key documents for our EU membership – the roadmap for the rule of law, the roadmap for public administration reforms and the roadmap for the functioning of democratic institutions that are conditions to open the first cluster. Additionally, we will need to prepare an action plan within the framework for the roadmap for the rule of law, to protect the rights of minorities and communities with specific anti-discrimination, the fight against hate speech and the right to education,” Marichikj said.

He added that a reform plan is prepared alongside a delegation from the EU to secure the fulfillment of key reform priorities during 2023. We have a long, massive, complex and significant process ahead of us, Marichikj pointed out. dk/ik/