SKOPJE (Macedonia), July 17 (SeeNews) – The EU's enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn announced on Tuesday the official launch of the EU screening process with Macedonia, the European Commission said.
“The screening is a thorough and detailed exercise which will familiarize the country with the EU legislation following the June's decision of the Council of the EU to set out the path for opening accession negotiations with Macedonia in June 2019,” Hanh said following a meeting with Macedonia’s prime minister Zoran Zaev in Skopje, as quoted in a press release.
The move comes a month after the foreign ministers of Macedonia and Greece signed a deal to resolve the 27-year old dispute between the two neighouring countries by changing the name of the former Yugoslav republic to North Macedonia. The agreement paves the way for the former Yugoslav republic to join NATO and the European Union under its new name.
“The door to the EU is now open, but you – and only you – decide whether you seize this opportunity,” EU enlargement commissioner noted, and stressed that the Euro Atlantic integration requires national unity and a real European consensus.
In order for the agreement to enter into force, it must be ratified by the Greek parliament. In addition, Macedonia will also hold a referendum on the deal in the autumn of 2018.
The Macedonian parliament ratified the agreement for the first time on June 20. However, Macedonian president Gjorge Ivanov refused to sign it into law, saying it runs against the Constitution and its ratification was not carried out in accordance with the constitution. Macedonia's parliament then ratified it in a second vote earlier this month.
“I call on all parties and institutions to regard the strategic goal of Euro Atlantic integration as national cross party objective and to engage constructively to deepen the current reform momentum, especially on rule of law, reform of the intelligence services and public administration," Hahn also said.
Last week, NATO decided to officially invite Macedonia to start accession talks.
For more than a decade Athens has blocked Macedonia’s attempts to join NATO and the EU over the country's name, which according to Greece allegedly implies territorial clams on the Greek northernmost province of the same name.