Last week Macedonia announced its intention of presenting an application for membership of the European Union. Premier Crvenkovski will go to Dublin on 26 February to formally deliver the application to the current Irish Presidency of the Council: it’s the thirtieth state to request admission. Over the last two years the government of Skopje has been negotiating with the Commission about the procedures of the pre-membership phase, which, in the best of scenarios, could lead to Macedonia’s entry into the EU in 2010, in view of the country’s persisting social, economic and legal problems. Following Croatia (which still awaits the Council’s granting of candidate status), Macedonia will be the second state in the Balkans to formally apply for membership: it is expected that Bosnia-Herzegovina will do so in 2005, while Serbia Montenegro and Albania though they have repeatedly expressed their wish to join the EU have still not communicated a date for their formal application.
