Accession of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the European Union
| Macedonian EU accession bid | ||||||||||||||||
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| Status | Candidate | |||||||||||||||
| Opened chapters | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Closed chapters | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Website | Secretariat for European Affairs | |||||||||||||||
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The Republic of Macedonia has been a candidate for accession to the European Union since 2005 but has not yet entered into accession negotiations. It submitted its membership application in 2004, thirteen years after its independence from Yugoslavia. As of June 2014, it is one of six candidate countries, together with Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, after the latest round of enlargement that brought membership to Croatia. Among current obstacles to full membership is the ongoing objection by Greece over the country's name, which is also the reason why it is officially addressed by the European Union with the provisional appellation "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", rather than its constitutional name, "Republic of Macedonia". Another problem is the objections of Bulgaria which does not recognize Macedonian as distinct ethnic group. Accession to the EU has been defined as the highest strategic priority for the country's government. The expected accession is currently described as a "medium to long term" prospect.
The government's motto for the candidacy is "The Sun, too, is a star", referring to the sun from the flag of the Republic of Macedonia being displayed among the other stars in the Flag of Europe, in the official logo of the candidacy.
The Republic of Macedonia began its formal process of rapprochement with the European Union in 2000, by initiating negotiations about the EU's Stabilisation and Association Process, and it became the first non-EU country in the Balkans to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), on 9 April 2001 in Luxembourg. The agreement was ratified by the Macedonian parliament on 12 April 2001, and was the first to be ratified by all the member states and came into force on 1 April 2004.
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