Arsovski: EU membership cannot become an endless wait, as credibility is at stake

Political analyst Petar Arsovski said that North Macedonia’s 10-year wait inside the European Union to gain full rights cannot be compared with a 10-year wait outside the union just to begin the membership process. He made the comments in an interview with “Sloboden Pechat.”

According to him, candidate countries could join the EU more quickly through a formula that would provide for a different decision-making system during the first years of membership from the one currently applied to member states.

Arsovski believes that such a model would make political sense only if it were directly accompanied by an acceleration of the path to membership.

“If the introduction of the so-called pre-accession space runs in parallel with an acceleration of the European integration process, then it has political meaning and functionality,” Arsovski said.

He stressed that the new mechanism must not turn into an additional set of conditions without offering candidates any concrete benefit in return.

“Candidates would practically be told: you will have fewer rights, but you will join more quickly and spend the period until you receive full rights inside the union. However, if this turns into a double loss, meaning a longer wait and, in the end, fewer rights, then the credibility of the accession process will be seriously damaged,” Arsovski explained.