BUSINESS SUPPORT MEASURES IN EU PRE-ACCESSION PERIOD: EXPECTATIONS FOR THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA
BUSINESS SUPPORT MEASURES IN EU PRE-ACCESSION PERIOD: EXPECTATIONS FOR THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Summary/Abstract: The process of Pre-accession to the European Union is filled with measures forassistance for the candidate countries, as to create a favourable accession andharmonization period for the candidate countries’ systems. As such, the EuropeanUnion uses different measures for support of businesses and the economicenvironment of a candidate country, as a part of a large programme, dubbed “theInstrument for Pre-Accession (IPA)”. Funds used from this Instrument targetcapacities build-up on different areas within the candidate country throughout theaccession period, with the goal of creating progressive and positive developments inthe candidate country.The Republic of North Macedonia has been identified as a potential EUcandidate since 2003, when the Thessaloniki European Council has granted this status.Since 2005, the country has been granted candidate status, with recommendation toopen accession negations in 2015. Therefore, the pre-accession assistance that is to begranted to the country is expected to be similar to countries that have already beenthrough this process and are now members of the EU. For comparison purposes, thesupport measures from the pre-accession period of two similar, already EU-membercountries are compared throughout this paper. Slovenia, as a member state that hassimilar population, size and political background to the Republic of North Macedonia,is taken into the research of this paper, as well as Bulgaria, which is a country that ismost similar to the political and economic situation of the Republic of North Macedoniaduring its pre-accession period, and it is one of the last countries to enter the EU. Theirrespective use and allowances under the IPA, with focus on measures within theinstrument used to enhance the business environment of each country, are thoroughlyanalysed throughout this paper, as to offer an insight into what can be expected asbusiness support measures for this period of pre-accession for Macedonia. Additionally, the results from these support measures in Slovenia and Bulgaria give aclearer image as to what should be expected and what can be the impact ondevelopment and progress of the business and economic environment of Macedonia,during this pre-accession period.

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