The European Commission and the Council of the EU clarify that after the compromise with Bulgaria, unlocking the Frontex agreement with North Macedonia will be treated as a priority, Telegraph Macedonia reports.

North Macedonia initiated this agreement with the EU in 2018, but in the meantime Frontex (namely the European Border and Coast Guard Agency that "protects the borders of the EU") has undergone several legislative and legal changes, which must now subject to renegotiations in the EU to update the agreement with North Macedonia to be consistent with the model that applies to all participating countries.

The procedure takes place according to Article 218 of the EU Charter.

The main changes that will be made in the agreement refer, among other things, to the permission to establish the agency in countries outside the EU, the surveillance of migrant smuggling, the protection and enhanced monitoring of basic human rights, especially since this agency was subjected to many scandals regarding its border officers' treatment of refugees and migrants at the EU's external borders.

This new Frontex model should be integrated into the updated agreement with North Macedonia, which requires the European Commission to first recommend the start of negotiations and the Council of the EU (member states) to give the green light to those negotiations.

It is expected that the European Commission will soon issue the recommendation and the Council will give the green light for negotiations.

AIM's sources in the Commission and the Council do not want to speculate on dates, but hope that from autumn to the end of the year the agreement will be finalized and then ratified./Telegrafi/