North Macedonia’s Long Road to EU Membership: Two Decades of Waiting

Introduction: A Veteran Candidate Country Still Waiting

This December, North Macedonia will mark its 20th anniversary of gaining candidate status for European Union membership, yet two decades later, the country is still waiting to join the EU. North Macedonia, a veteran EU candidate country second only to Turkey, remains stalled. The prolonged accession process has become a source of frustration for the Balkan nation, which has made numerous compromises but continues to face obstacles on its path to membership.

Current State of EU Accession Negotiations

North Macedonia has been an EU candidate country since December 2005, with accession negotiations beginning in June 2022. However, progress has been severely limited. Accession negotiations were officially launched in July 2022 with the first intergovernmental conference, but the process soon stalled, as a second conference — required to open accession chapters — depends on the completion of constitutional changes to include the small Bulgarian minority in the constitution.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski stated that his country is ‘unfortunately in the same place where it was 25 years ago due to some artificial reasons’, not because of the Copenhagen criteria, but because of artificial disputes, such as the national flag, nation’s name, and constitutional changes. The VMRO-DPMNE–led government refuses to adopt the necessary constitutional changes to recognize its ethnic Bulgarian population without guarantees that this will be the final demand from neighbouring Bulgaria.

Economic Performance and Trade Relations

Growth in North Macedonia is anticipated to reach 3.3% in 2025, driven by domestic demand and public investment projects, although heightened external risks and uncertainties may weigh on this outlook. However, North Macedonia’s trade deficit widened to $394 million in October 2025, from $307 million in the same month a year earlier, with imports climbing by 15.4% year-on-year to $846 million, while exports grew by 10.25% to $452 million.

Conclusion: Uncertain Future Ahead

North Macedonia’s path to EU membership remains clouded by bilateral disputes and political stalemates. More than 46.5% of young people in North Macedonia do not believe their country will ever join the European Union, with only 6.7% of respondents expecting EU membership within the next five years. As the country commemorates two decades as a candidate, the prospects for swift accession remain dim without resolution of the constitutional dispute with Bulgaria. The situation highlights the challenges facing Western Balkan countries in their European integration efforts and raises questions about the credibility of the EU enlargement process in the region.