Skopje, 17 August 2023 (MIA) — North Macedonia's statistics authority has reached a high level of alignment with European legislation and international standards, according to a State Statistical Office press release citing the European Commission's draft screening report on Chapter 18 on Statistics under Cluster 1 on Fundamentals.

As part of the screening process, the SSO rlease says, discussions took place during an explanatory screening meeting with representatives from the European Commission and Eurostat on Sept. 16, 2022. A bilateral meeting with Eurostat followed on Nov. 14-15 in Luxembourg.

"The European Commission has recommended that allocation of adequate resources is crucial to achieving full compliance with European legislation. Regarding the assessment of special domains of statistical production, the Commission has noted a high level of alignment and advised that further progress is needed in all statistical areas in order to reach full alignment," the release notes.

"These high achievements are the result of the firm commitment and dedication of all employees at the institution who are continuously fully invested in achieving goals, despite the challenges the institution has been facing for a long time, above all, the chronic shortage of personnel, and insufficient funding for statistical research," the statisticians write.

"However, we are proud and happy with our achievements and we hope that when Chapter 18 is discussed during the negotiation process with EU, we will have reached full alignment with the European legislation in all statistical areas," they add. ssh/mr