News
9/27/2022 07:23
The Deputy Prime Minister in charge of European affairs, Bojan Maricik, at the last explanatory meeting of the "Foundations" Cluster on Chapter 23, "Justice and Fundamental Rights", said that the expertise, recommendations and advice heard by the Macedonian working groups from the European Commission will be a good guide in preparing for bilateral screening in this chapter.
According to Maricik, progress in the area of the rule of law will be a clear indicator of the course of the negotiation process and that the Macedonian negotiation team and he, as a former Minister of justice, know very well the challenge they will have in this chapter.
- We have made changes in the functioning of the judicial system, but this is an area in which we will still have work to do and which always has room for improvement, says Maricik.
Today in Brussels, with the conclusion of the explanatory meeting for Chapter 23, "Justice and fundamental rights", the explanatory screening for Cluster 1, "Foundations", was concluded. Bilateral meetings for the chapters and areas of this Cluster will be held in November and December of this year.
This cluster is considered the most important area in the negotiation process with the European Union, considering that it contains chapters related to democratic institutions, the rule of law, political and economic criteria, public administration reform, public procurement, financial control and statistics. The opening of other clusters will depend on the achievement of the necessary progress in this cluster, the Secretariat for European Affairs explains.
The screening process continues with the explanatory meetings for the chapters of Cluster 2, "Internal Market", which starts in the first half of October.