
On 29 May, the European Commission issued its progress report on EU aspiring countries and North Macedonia was among them. The country did not receive a clear-cut date for starting EU entry talks. Instead, it received a positive recommendation, with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn and the European Commission urging the European Council to come up with a date for launching accession talks with North Macedonia, as the country has managed to deliver on key EU-set reforms in the judiciary and signed the reconciliatory Prespa Agreement with Greece on 17 June 2018. Such an outcome was to be expected, considering previous warning signals — coming from France, the Netherlands, and Germany — that the country has not sufficiently done to tackle organized crime, corruption, and some crucial judicial reforms such as the adoption of the law on the Special Public Prosecution.