 In March 2020, North Macedonia joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a part of a series of efforts to integrate the country into the West. Another one of these efforts is the nation's bid to join the European Union. Though its application began in 2004, accession talks did not begin until March 2020, and since November 2020, Bulgaria, another EU member, has effectively ceased these negotiations until certain disputes between the two nations are resolved. With that said, North Macedonia is one of the prospect nations which actually has a reasonable chance of exceeding to the Union, and today I will look into what factors the nation has going for its accession and what major hurdles it will have to face before doing so. The Republic of Macedonia officially declared independence from Yugoslavia on the 8th of September 1991, and unlike most of its counterparts, it was not involved in the Yugoslav Wars. However, with the coast of a war in 1999 taking place right next door to the country, it faced serious destabilization, as around 360,000 Albanian refugees entered to flee the turmoil. Despite many returning after the war was finished, Albanian insurgents did fight to form a state from the ethnic Albanian areas in Macedonia in 2001, with the conflict ending in a NATO ceasefire. Though the tensions between ethnic Macedonians and Albanians, who by official accounts make up a quarter of the nation's population, have become non-violent following agreements after this insurgency, inter-ethnic violence resurfaced in the first months of 2012, but since then there have been no major waves of violence. There is a nation that Macedonia has had a troubled past with though, and that is Greece. Due to the region of Macedonia within Greece, and the historical claims Greece has to this lineage associated with the name, one of the longest and possibly the most frivolous naming disputes ensued. Both countries played on each other, and tensions were rising, but an end was finally in sight with the Prespa Agreement being signed on the 17th of June 2018. This agreement changed the name of the Republic of Macedonia to North Macedonia, and Greece agreed to cease its vetoing of North Macedonia's accession to both NATO and the European Union. It joined NATO in March 2020 when all nations in the Alliance ratified its membership, though this membership was sought by North Macedonia since 1999. Even the European Union, however, is a bit harder than joining the NATO Alliance. Factors benefiting North Macedonia's accession to NATO were numerous, including its strategic position in the western Balkans, which would further increase the Alliance's influence in the region, and as a result would further eliminate Russian or Chinese military developments. Despite this, Russia and to a greater extent China have great economic interests in the region as well, which NATO does not cover. Additionally, though the NATO Alliance does try to promote democratic values, the main purpose of the Alliance was to defend Western interests in Europe and to protect its allies from the Soviet bloc, and the Alliance did support anti-Soviet dictatorships globally. Currently, one NATO member, Turkey, ranks as not free according to Freedom House, so holding democratic values is obviously not quite as strong of a requirement. North Macedonia is often classified as a hybrid regime, according to the Democracy Index, as it is not quite a democratic country, though it has more freedoms than authoritarian regimes. Other examples of hybrid regimes in NATO include the aforementioned Turkey, Albania, and Montenegro. On the other hand, the European Union is an economic and political union, not a military alliance, with its main purpose being to create a unified community of democratic European countries. All countries in the EU, unlike NATO, are considered democracies by the Democracy Index, and this is one of the most important qualifications for joining the Union. Obviously, the European Union officials are not going to go online and look at what the Democracy Index has to say about North Macedonia's democracy level. It goes a lot deeper than that. Problems that are assessed in accession pertaining to governance include corruption, handling of elections, press freedom, and importantly for North Macedonia, inter-ethnic relations. The nation has, according to the annual report on the country by the European Commission, made progress in all these areas, though it still has to make more progress to be fully ready for accession. When admitting nations to the Union, the European Commission also looks for a stable functioning market economy that is ready for integration for the greater European community. North Macedonia, according to the report, has a good level of preparation in terms of being a market economy, which is relatively stable. Specific issues that North Macedonia may have pertain to the size of its economy in respect to its population. The economy in 2019 was estimated to be around 12 billion, and its gross domestic product per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity, was around $16,000 per person. If you remember my video on Turkey's trouble with exceeding to the EU, you will know that North Macedonia's GDP per capita is significantly lower than the $30,000 in Turkey. However, there is one catch that makes North Macedonia's bid to join the EU more plausible in Turkey's, and this is population size. North Macedonia has a small population of 2 million, meaning that not as much money would be required to give the nation significant economic aid. Also, this small population would not create a major immigration crisis, as some Macedonians may relocate to wealthier EU members once they are accepted, though the numbers would be insignificant to those other countries' populations. The other factor North Macedonia has on its side is a cultural unity to other EU members, which ranges from its majority Orthodox religion, or its majority Slavic language, giving it some cultural brothers in the Alliance. There is one problem that relates to this brotherhood, however, and it has to do with neighbour Bulgaria. Between it and neighbour Albania, who started accession talks at the same time in March 2020, North Macedonia has come much further in addressing its requirements to joining the European Union. Why should I bring up Albania, though both countries have been moving towards accession at different rates, they are both in the same stalled position at the current time. They don't mean stalled in the same way that Turkey's application is stalled, as Albania and North Macedonia are still interested in EU membership and this stall will likely lift in the near future. But North Macedonia must first address its disputes with EU member Bulgaria before it can push forwards. Aw man, just after fixing the naming dispute with Greece, North Macedonia now has to deal with language recognition disputes at Bulgaria. The Friendship Treaty with Bulgaria in 2017 has attempted to settle these disputes, though the treaty is largely being ignored. Proponents of the Bulgarian side of the dispute will state that the Macedonian language and identity is false, with it being a relic of a Yugoslavian invention, and that all Macedonians are truly Bulgarians. Those on the Macedonian side would find this false and rather demeaning to a national identity, and though their identity formed within the last two centuries, it is just as valid as any other nation. This matter is because of an alleged Macedonian minority in Bulgaria that is unrecognized by the Bulgarian government, which claims these people to be Bulgarian. Also, the recognition of the Macedonian language will affect the number of official languages in the EU, raising it from 24 to 25, though this really isn't relevant, I just love tangents. Anyway, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Yekaterina Zacharyva, has stated, at the moment, Bulgaria does not think North Macedonia is ready for EU membership, and North Macedonia cannot move past this obstacle until Bulgaria either changes its mind or the two countries make amends. There is one interesting thing to note, though. Bulgaria's press freedom is criminally low for an EU member, and there have been corruption allegations against the country's government. Protests have raged in the country for the past few months as a result. Many critics will call Bulgaria's block of North Macedonia's talks a publicity stunt to divert attention from its own problems with democracy and the rule of law. I thought that was an interesting piece of information that I'll let you all think on. North Macedonia has had a challenging time exceeding to Western alliances, namely NATO and the European Union. The nations successfully joined NATO in 2020 after the naming dispute with Greece was resolved, but the nation has several hurdles to cross before entering the EU, including governmental reforms, but to a greater extent its disputes with Bulgaria regarding language and culture. North Macedonia has many things going for it in joining also, namely its small population that will not cause a major migrant crisis if admitted, and a market economy that is ready to integrate into Europe. However, no joining can be achieved without crossing these difficult rivers first. Thank you all for watching. 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