Mickoski welcomes EU proposals to reform enlargement veto process

North Macedonian Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has welcomed new European Commission proposals aimed at reforming the EU enlargement process. The proposals, part of the ‘Preparing for a wider Union’ package, suggest increasing the use of qualified majority voting when opening negotiation clusters and making other intermediary decisions to prevent single member states from using their veto power to block progress based on bilateral disputes.

Mickoski stated that the EU has recognized how certain member states misuse their membership to pursue issues unrelated to merit-based accession or European values. He noted that the new approach could facilitate faster, gradual integration for candidate countries into specific EU policies and mechanisms.

Regarding North Macedonia’s own path, Mickoski indicated the country is well-positioned for gradual integration, having already met two of the three primary conditions: establishing a common foreign and defense policy and aligning with EU standards. The final condition involves specific reforms to the public procurement system, which the government expects to finalize and adopt through Parliament in the coming week.