By: Podstara Internationals Relation Office
The European Parliament’s recent adoption of the 2025 progress report on North Macedonia is a stark reminder of the fragile tightrope the country walks. Adopted in Strasbourg with 411 votes in favor and 120 against, the document is a classic Brussels compromise: it offers an outstretched hand while delivering a sharp slap to the wrist.
For those of us tracking the Western Balkans’ integration, the June 2026 report reveals a sobering truth. North Macedonia’s European dream is no longer just delayed by stubborn neighbors; it is actively being eroded from within.
The Bilateral Stranglehold Remains
The most highly anticipated drama of the plenary session was undoubtedly the debate over the Second Protocol of the Good Neighborly Agreement with Bulgaria. The attempt to delete paragraph 73—which ties the Joint Historical Commission to the accession process—via Amendment 3 ultimately failed.
This means the European Parliament has formally refused to decouple North Macedonia’s EU path from the bilateral demands of Sofia. The message from Brussels is clear: the constitutional amendments are a non-negotiable prerequisite for the next intergovernmental conference. While the report rightly stresses that cultural and linguistic identity must not be questioned by third parties and that bilateral disputes should not be instrumentalized, these are diplomatic platitudes. The hard political reality is that the veto power remains intact.
The True Achilles Heel: The Rule of Law
However, focusing solely on Bulgaria provides a convenient excuse for domestic political failures. The sharpest, most alarming sections of the European Parliament’s report target the country’s internal stagnation.
The report paints a picture of a system where the rule of law is rapidly deteriorating. Crucially, the European Parliament explicitly condemned the recent amendments to the Criminal Code. By shortening the statutes of limitations and reducing penalties for high-level corruption and abuse of office, the political elite has engineered a system that projects a culture of total impunity.
There is a glaring, unexplained gap between the loud announcements of corruption investigations and the actual, tangible guilty verdicts in high-profile cases. When a country’s judiciary faces deep structural weaknesses, underfunding, and blatant political interference, the foundational Copenhagen criteria are breached. The EU cannot integrate a state where the justice system serves political actors rather than the public.
The Geopolitical Battleground
Further complicating the domestic landscape is North Macedonia’s vulnerability to foreign influence. The report issues a severe warning regarding the strategic acquisition of domestic media outlets by Hungarian entities, which act as a Trojan horse for anti-European narratives.
Coupled with the growing economic footprint of China, the shadowy projection of Russian influence, and narratives promoting a “Serbian world,” the country is caught in a geopolitical crossfire. The call to open the Yugoslav secret service archives (UDBA and KOS) is not just a nod to historical transparency; it is a vital step toward dismantling the entrenched networks that continue to manipulate regional politics.
The Path Forward: Reforms Over Rhetoric
Despite the heavy criticism, the door to Europe remains open. North Macedonia was praised for its strategic alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and its stabilizing role in the region. Projects like the Corridor 8 railway tunnel and integration into the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) show that technical and infrastructural progress is possible.
But technical progress cannot mask institutional decay.
The future of North Macedonia in the EU does not hinge on the goodwill of Brussels or Sofia; it hinges on Gostivar, Skopje, and Tetovo. It demands a genuine, cross-party commitment to eradicate corruption, depoliticize the judiciary, and stop using ethno-nationalist rhetoric to distract from a failing domestic agenda. Until the country’s leadership decides to prioritize its citizens over political survival, the European dream will remain precisely that—a dream.