Spasovski met with senior European officials in Brdo near Kranj
The country's achievements in fulfilling the recommendations of the Joint Action Plan against Terrorism have been incomparably positive in the past period. Particularly significant results were achieved in 2020, when an 11-member terrorist organization was suppressed, and a large amount of weapons, ammunition and explosives were seized in the case, said Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski at the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum. In Brdo near Kranj in Slovenia.
During this forum, Spasovski had bilateral meetings with EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Ilka Salmi, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ilva Johansson and the Director of the European Office for Asylum Support (EASO) Nina Gregory.
As announced by the Ministry of Interior, the meeting welcomed the achievements during 2020/2021 in terms of 11 final verdicts in the field of fight against terrorism, which sentenced 11 people to prison, as well as the solidarity responsibility of Northern Macedonia. as a NATO member, to be actively involved in the international community's commitment to protecting civilians at risk in Afghanistan, who have been involved in democratic change in the country and have worked with international organizations and agencies.
In addition, Minister Spasovski stressed the great importance of the support of friends, institutions and member states of the European Union in meeting the priorities in this area.
The bilateral meeting with EU Commissioner Ilva Johansson focused on several issues from the aspect of internal affairs, and the emphasis was on migration and the fight against organized crime.
The Ministry of Interior pointed out that during the talks the significant progress of the country in the field of justice, freedom and security and the efforts made to meet the necessary criteria were noted, which resulted in a recommendation to open accession negotiations without any delay according to the latest report of the European Commission.
Minister Spasovski stressed that the formal start of accession negotiations, including Chapters 23 and 24, will enable the deepening of reforms and achieve better results in the introduction of EU standards that will bring well-being to all citizens. According to him, the opening of accession negotiations would provide additional motivation, not only for the Government and the administration, but also for the whole society, and the decisions to be made at the forthcoming December meeting of the EU Council are important not only for the future of Northern Macedonia. , but also for the region and for the Union itself.
- We continue with the implementation of EU reforms in our society. In that spirit, the reform plan of the Government of RSM "Europe at home" was adopted to direct the reform agenda in the selected priority areas, including the topics we discussed at this ministerial forum. Additionally, the Government adopted the National Program for Adoption of the Law 2021-2025, as a comprehensive key strategic document that defines the reform priorities, time frame and necessary resources for the overall accession process, said Spasovski during the meeting with EU Commissioner Johansson.
He stressed that the determination of our country to be part of the global response to manage migration flows is reflected in the preparation of the new Resolution on migration policy. This Resolution is currently being adopted by the Assembly, and the goal is to strengthen the systematic registration of migrants and protect the profiling of sensitive data, with the support of FRONTEX, which deepens cooperation in all areas. Work will be done on the preparation of a Master Plan for registration of migrants which is the basis for developing such an IT system that will be able to join EURODAC immediately after the country's accession to the EU.
Thereby, satisfaction was expressed with the harmonization of the legislation of Northern Macedonia in the field of asylum with the EU legislation. The Minister of Interior briefed the EU Commissioner Johansson on the adopted Strategy for strengthening the capacities for conducting financial investigations and confiscation of property for the period 2021-2023, with the Action Plan, which is also part of the measures of the Anti-Corruption Plan.
The Ministry of Interior emphasizes that one of the topics for discussion at the third bilateral meeting with Nina Gregory was the roadmap for cooperation with Northern Macedonia, which was officially approved in December 2020, and EASO prepared a Plan for its implementation, which was shared in June 2021.
Minister Spasovski pointed out that in the past period the planned activities for training of the basic modules of EASO for the staff of the Asylum Sector were finalized, while the standard operating procedures, whose Macedonian version was submitted to EASO last year, are intended to supplement them. the need to adapt them to the new situation.