Migration policies of European Union: North Macedonia in this membership process

As is known, the Western Balkan (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia) geography is important for the enlargement of the European Union and is one of the regions where the membership process needs to be completed. Located in this geography, North Macedonia submitted its membership application in 2004 and was granted candidate status by the European Council in 2005. Except that, the foreign policy and economic problems of the country, and the challenges encountered in the harmonization process with the EU progress reports delayed the membership process. Yet, a long-standing dispute over North Macedonia's name with Greece, which was a major obstacle in the accession process, was resolved with the Treaty of Prespa signed in 2019 and brought the country closer to the candidate status. The entry to the Union through North Macedonia as a transit country caused the EU qualms in terms of security. The exposure of North Macedonia to the refugee flow in 2015 increased the EU pressure on the country and led it to close the borders to the migrants. This study deals with the enlargement process to the Western Balkans within the context of the migration policy of the EU with the explanation of the basic concepts concerning migration and addresses the issues faced by North Macedonia in the membership process. The purpose of the thesis is to evaluate migration which turned to be an international problem from the perspective of North Macedonia's membership to the EU. To that end, the resources such as books, journals, reports, articles, etc. on the subject of migration were found as a result of a detailed literature review. At the same time, for a deeper analysis of the thesis, the interviews were held with Jasmin Rejebi, the general secretary of Legis, a non-governmental society in Skopje, with Trpe Stojanovski from the Faculty of Security of St.Kliment Ohridski University. All iv of these researches and readings played an important role in the formation and shaping of the hypothesis of the thesis.