On 21st of august 2024 in hotel “Panoramika” joint meeting of the working groups was held, whereas representatives of the 5 working groups were present as well as the state counsellor in the Ministry of European affairs, Dragan Tilev, who presented the actual conditions with which we face in regards to euro-integrations.
At the beginning prof. Gurovska, the national coordinator of NCEU-MK and president of the European movement addressed, thanking all present and highlighting that this structure gives continuity of the whole project.
After her introduction, short presentation followed including everything that has been done this year, in general terms, with explanation of the conditions in each group separately.
It was pointed out that till now 60 events within the project were held, refering to attractive topics, suggested by the members of the Program council. Out of these events, 600 recommendations followed which were addressed to all relevant institutions and bodies.
It was emphasized that the problem is the following of their implementation, for which proper model should be found.
Speaking about the regional aspect of the project, sharing practices and regional cooperation is a big plus, prof. Mileva said, adding that this is part of the project realized with Serbia and Albania, with focus on Cluster 1-Fundamentals, highlighting that it would be great if we can spread this to other chapters as well.
According to prof. Mileva, the dialogue and the expertise especially in civil sector must continue, particularly in regards to political questions that need to be solved parallel. The society must be ready for the process as soon as it starts.
Then prof. Mileva called upon Dragan Tilev, the state counsellor in the Ministry of European affairs, who presented the condition and the plans of the Ministry for European affairs.
He emphasized that all recommendations and analyses which were addressed to the Secretariat for European affairs, now the Ministry, were forwarded to the state secretaries in charge for these areas.
According to hi,, the topics and recommendations were always on time and possible for realization and part of them are still valid. Tilev said that it is already discussed with the minister for arranging joint meeting with the management of NCEU-MK, whereas the recommendations can be presented originally. Tilev believes that the connection between the ministry, the civil sector and the journalists must be continuous and strong, with prioritization of the same matters which are of key importance.
In regards to the expertise, according to him, the ones relevant for our condition are the experts from Albania because only our two states implement this methodology in the same way. Serbia and Montenegro apply it, but from completely different angle, while Croatia and other older member countries can be used in terms of implementation, but not in terms of negotiations because the matters are completely changed from the time when they negotiated. According to him, we must develop capacities and institutions for the whole accession process in absence of prior experience that can be overtaken.
Afterwards, Tilev continued with elaboration of the conditions in regards to IPA and the Growth plan, but also for the new situation connected to the reorganization from Secretariat to Ministry, as well as for the conditions in regards to euro-integrations for us but also in EU. He notified that work is being done so that their results of the screenings for the all 6 Clusters can be received, which will be great resource for reviewing the key questions and would be of use in the process of selecting the topics for following sessions. At the end, he pointed out that it is useful for the EU Plan of reforms to be checked upon, in regards of preparation of the Union for new members.
After the short brake, the discussion continued addressing the key benefits and problems that the groups face and how they overcome the challenges. Also, they discussed for the conditions in each group and gave suggestions about the timing for the following sessions, as well as for the topics that consider to be important. In order for them to be defined, it was agreed for separate meetings with each group to be held, whereas the date and the topic can be determined, with which proper expertise on national and international level can be secured.