The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia

Since Republic of North Macedonia has been a candidate country for European Union membership for almost two decades, the goal of this article is to shed a light on the conditions and requirements that were set before Macedonia and their evolution for this time period. For that purpose the article, a...

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Main Author: Mila Minovska
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2023-09-01
Series:RUDN Journal of Economics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.rudn.ru/economics/article/viewFile/36237/22634
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author Mila Minovska
author_facet Mila Minovska
author_sort Mila Minovska
collection DOAJ
description Since Republic of North Macedonia has been a candidate country for European Union membership for almost two decades, the goal of this article is to shed a light on the conditions and requirements that were set before Macedonia and their evolution for this time period. For that purpose the article, annual reports of the European Commission on Macedonia’s progress were reviewed. Further on, analysis of the development of Macedonia’s macroeconomic indicators was carried out which was followed by a comparative analysis of the state of the economic development of the Central and Eastern European countries - member states of the European Union, at the moment of their accession. It was established that the EU enlargement process have undergone significant changes since its foundation. Over time, the changed political environment within the EU has led to a significant strengthening and tightening of the rules and criteria. The inefficiency of the latest accessions provoked the EU once again to change the accession negotiation process and introduce new accession process that is significantly more political than economic. In Macedonia’s case, it was political and not economic requirements that led to the country becoming stuck in its EU accession process. The economic results achieved by Macedonia during the researched period, even though lower than the average for the union, were still higher that the results shown by some Central and Eastern European counties at the time when they became members of the EU. Therefore, is no doubt, that Macedonia’s path to the EU was conditioned by political obstacles, the same situation continues today. But the major question that still stand unanswered is weather this kind increased politicization of the process is contradictory to the merit-based system the EU prides itself on.
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spelling doaj.art-e9bf0b7d2d4a4649b360d8f31273a70c2023-10-06T13:16:38ZengPeoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)RUDN Journal of Economics2313-23292408-89862023-09-0131361462810.22363/2313-2329-2023-31-3-614-62821024The evolution of EU accession requirements for North MacedoniaMila Minovska0RUDN UniversitySince Republic of North Macedonia has been a candidate country for European Union membership for almost two decades, the goal of this article is to shed a light on the conditions and requirements that were set before Macedonia and their evolution for this time period. For that purpose the article, annual reports of the European Commission on Macedonia’s progress were reviewed. Further on, analysis of the development of Macedonia’s macroeconomic indicators was carried out which was followed by a comparative analysis of the state of the economic development of the Central and Eastern European countries - member states of the European Union, at the moment of their accession. It was established that the EU enlargement process have undergone significant changes since its foundation. Over time, the changed political environment within the EU has led to a significant strengthening and tightening of the rules and criteria. The inefficiency of the latest accessions provoked the EU once again to change the accession negotiation process and introduce new accession process that is significantly more political than economic. In Macedonia’s case, it was political and not economic requirements that led to the country becoming stuck in its EU accession process. The economic results achieved by Macedonia during the researched period, even though lower than the average for the union, were still higher that the results shown by some Central and Eastern European counties at the time when they became members of the EU. Therefore, is no doubt, that Macedonia’s path to the EU was conditioned by political obstacles, the same situation continues today. But the major question that still stand unanswered is weather this kind increased politicization of the process is contradictory to the merit-based system the EU prides itself on.https://journals.rudn.ru/economics/article/viewFile/36237/22634eumacedoniaaccession criteriaintegrationmembershiprequirements
spellingShingle Mila Minovska
The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
RUDN Journal of Economics
eu
macedonia
accession criteria
integration
membership
requirements
title The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
title_full The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
title_fullStr The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
title_full_unstemmed The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
title_short The evolution of EU accession requirements for North Macedonia
title_sort evolution of eu accession requirements for north macedonia
topic eu
macedonia
accession criteria
integration
membership
requirements
url https://journals.rudn.ru/economics/article/viewFile/36237/22634
work_keys_str_mv AT milaminovska theevolutionofeuaccessionrequirementsfornorthmacedonia
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