North Macedonian President on EU accession: "Our fear is that we will become a second Turkey"

Macedonia has been an EU candidate for 14 years - as long as no other country except Turkey. It was above all the name dispute with Greece, which blocked the beginning of EU accession negotiations, but also the domestic political situation under ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski, during whose rule Macedonia slipped into corruption and state-organized crime.

Since May 2017, a reform coalition led by Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is ruling the country. Among other things, it resolved the name dispute with Greece through the historic Prespa Agreement, since January Macedonia now carries the geographical addition "North" in the name of the country.

North Macedonia's NATO recording is now considered a formality. However, the promised start of accession negotiations with the EU did not happen - France's President Macron vetoed it in mid-October. Therefore, Zaev will resign in January, in April there will be early elections.

President Stevo Pendarovski, who has been in office since May, is an experienced foreign and security politician.

SPIEGEL: Northern Macedonia has met all the preconditions for starting accession talks. Nevertheless, the EU does not want to conduct accession negotiations for the time being. What does that mean for your country?

Stevo Pendarovski: It was a deep shock for us. The cancellation came as a complete surprise. Although President Macron had announced that he would like to reform the EU accession process, everyone had hoped that he would not block the start of negotiations with Albania and my country, Northern Macedonia. That was a big disappointment for our citizens, our government and for me personally. After all, we have passed all the crucial laws and agreements. Above all, we have done something unique in modern world history. To resolve the name dispute with Greece, we have changed our state name from Macedonia to northern Macedonia.

SPIEGEL: Many EU politicians regard the French veto as a historical mistake.

Pendarovski: Above all, it's a strategic mistake. Many EU leaders want a Union that is a relevant geopolitical actor. But that does not work without integrating the Western Balkans region. We are not a neighboring region of the EU. Without our countries as members, the EU can not become a geopolitical actor.

SPIEGEL: How did the French President justify the refusal to you?

Pendarovski: He told me that it is less about us than about the EU, which needs time to reform the accession process. But practically nobody believes this reasoning here. Our fear is that we will become a second Turkey, a country that is a permanent candidate for accession.

SPIEGEL: In France, but also in other countries, there was talk of rule-of-law deficits. In your country, of all people, Katica Janeva, the former head of special prosecutor SJO, who is supposed to work on high-level corruption, has been charged with corruption. Are the reservations not justified?

Pendarovski: The affair is not about the institution SJO itself, but about its former leader. Yes, that was a shock to the public. But our judiciary has responded credibly to this affair and with all the rule of law.

SPIEGEL: Only a few days ago, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said that the judiciary is still full of corrupt prosecutors and judges and that it finally has to be "cleaned up", as he put it.

Pendarovski: Yes, there is no doubt that we need very far-reaching constitutional reforms. However, the situation is no longer comparable to what we had three or four years ago in the Gruevski era.

SPIEGEL: There are good arguments for reforming the accession process. The EU is virtually powerless against political developments such as those in Hungary or Poland. In the case of Romania and Bulgaria, the specially established rule of law control mechanism CVM has failed.

Pendarovski: We have nothing against reforms to the accession process. It is our very own interest to implement profound and qualitatively good rule of law reforms. If a country is excluded from the accession process because of rule of law regression - no problem. But we need this reform very urgent and very fast.

SPIEGEL: What dangers threatens if the EU engages less in the Western Balkans region in the future?

Pendarovski: In the first place then other players appear. Therefore, the EU should not make the mistake of understanding us only as a neighborly region. In addition, other countries will say, look, the Macedonians have fulfilled all conditions, changed their state name and it has brought them anyway. Why should we make serious efforts? I am thinking in particular of Serbia and Kosovo and the conflict over the recognition of Kosovo.

SPIEGEL: What is the danger of Russia, Turkey and China filling the vacuum?

Pendarovski: I do not want to name a country by name. But there are power centers in the world that are dissatisfied with the NATO and EU enlargement. And in this context, countries in our region have been the target of fake news, disinformations or destabilization campaigns on several occasions.

SPIEGEL: What do you think about alternative models to the conventional integration process? For example, that you have access to EU Structural Funds, attend EU meetings but do not have the full members' voting rights?

Pendarovski: We would not mind such a model if our perspective of one day becoming a full member persists.

SPIEGEL: To a certain extent, the Western Balkans region is already integrated in the EU, only in a different way than the region wishes: a good many good workers are going to Western Europe, EU companies are benefiting from free trade with the region.

Pendarovski: Especially the brain drain is a real problem for us. Thousands of well-educated people just go away. We have been waiting for 14 years for accession negotiations to begin. Not only do we have to reform our state. We also need to bring our economy in order and align. At present, the average wage is 400 euros, similar to all other countries in the region. The longer our integration is delayed, the bigger the gap with the EU becomes, the more people will go and the more difficult it is for us to adapt to the EU.

SPIEGEL: Recently, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Serbia launched the so-called Mini-Schengen Initiative, a project designed to reduce travel and trade barriers in the Western Balkans region. Do you want to show the EU that you can still cooperate in a region historically considered a powder keg?

Pendarovski: Beyond the many practical aspects, the character of reconciliation and cooperation is very important in this initiative. Most importantly, this initiative really comes from us and no one from the West has put pressure.

SPIEGEL: In the EU, hardly anyone believes in a real prospect of joining the Western Balkans. What do you think?

Pendarovski: It would be fatal if we had to wait ten or fifteen years. As long as the European enthusiasm of our citizens will not continue. I believe that five to seven years would be optimal to complete the accession negotiations.

SPIEGEL: That sounds very optimistic. There has long been a cliché in the Western Balkans region: "We pretend that we are going to reform, and they pretend to integrate us." How do you see that?

Pendarovski: If there is a decision in the spring against the start of accession negotiations with Albania and Macedonia, that will be a very serious blow. To reiterate the current strategic mistake would be a very deep cut with unforeseeable, perhaps irreversible consequences.