The day you become an EU citizen

North Macedonia formally applied to join the European Union.

The European Council granted North Macedonia candidate-country status. Negotiations did not open for another 17 years.

The first Intergovernmental Conference launched negotiations — though no cluster has opened since, pending the constitutional amendment.

Bilateral screening for all six clusters concluded, but cluster opening remains blocked by the constitutional condition.

Negotiations are formally open but fully blocked: no cluster has opened. The Council has set the terms for opening Cluster 1 "Fundamentals" once constitutional amendments (including Bulgarians and other peoples in the Constitution, a commitment under the July 2022 Council conclusions) are adopted. They need a two-thirds parliamentary majority; the EC's 2025 report records that no attempts were made to adopt them.