Economic Reform Programme 2025-2027
In order to support better economic governance, the European Union (EU) in the Enlargement Strategy of October 2013 introduced a new approach called the European Semester Light, with the countries of the Western Balkans and Turkey being invited by the European Commission (EC) from October 2014 to improve economic policies and strengthen economic governance through the preparation of economic reform programmes – ERP.
The Republic of North Macedonia participates in the process of pre-accession harmonization of economic policies with the European Union and prepares an annual ERP that contains macroeconomic and fiscal policies and indicators. This year, the EU Guidance for the preparation of the Economic Reforms Program for the period 2025-2027 is in direction that the countries of the Western Balkans do not prepare the chapter in the ERP and the corresponding annexes that refer to structural reforms, considering that the countries of the Western Balkans prepared a special document – Reform Agenda (RA) for the period 2024-2027, with specific steps for implementing reforms, within the framework of the appropriate Mechanism of EU for reforms and growth. According to the Guidance for the ERP 2025-2027, the Western Balkan countries should provide a brief overview of selected reforms from the RA in terms of their impact on the economy in Chapter 5A of the Programme.
Taking into account the new EU Guidance, the Economic Reform Program for the period 2025-2027 provides an overview of the medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal framework and monetary policy, an overview of the level of implementation of the Joint Conclusions with recommendations on fiscal and monetary policy from the Economic and Financial Dialogue held with the EU in May 2024, as well as the potential impact of selected reform measures from the Reform Agenda on the economy.
The preparation of ERP at the level of the Government is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance and submitted to the EC after its adoption by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia no later than January 15.
After delivering ERP to the EC, it is assessed through assessment missions in the country by the EC, the European Central Bank and Eurostat. Then a dialogue within the Council of the EU begins. First, a technical level discussion within the auxiliary bodies of the Council takes place in preparation for a dialogue within the Council of the EU represented by the so-called “trio”, i.e. the current and two consecutive presidencies, the finance ministers and the central bank governors of the countries – candidates for EU membership of the Western Balkans and Turkey. The process ends with the adoption of joint conclusions based on the ERP assessments and recommendations that are given to improve the macroeconomic policy of the country, the management of public finances and the quality of structural reforms (the so-called Policy Guidance). The candidate countries, when preparing the next ERP, are obliged to report on the level of implementation of the recommendations in the last year, in order to fulfil the economic criteria for accession to the EU – the existence of a functioning market economy the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union.
The Economic Reform Programme 2025-2027 text was accepted by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia on 14th of January 2025 and was officially submitted to the European Commission on 15th of January 2025.
The preparation of ERP as a coherent strategic document and its timely submission to the European Commission is a confirmation of the capacity of the country’s administration in terms of coordination of economic policies and work efficiency. ERP is a common result of several institutions, and the overall preparation is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance.
ERP is a complex document that is prepared according to the EU Guidance note for the preparation of the ERP from July 2024. The selection of measures from the country’s Reform Agenda was made in accordance with a scoring and selection tool for assessing the potential economic impact in the ERP, developed by experts at CEF Ljubljana, within the framework of the EU Regional Project “Better Integrated Structural Reforms in Fiscal Frameworks”, and which reforms have the greatest potential for national development, economic growth and strong feasibility for implementation. During the preparation of ERP 2025-2027 several strategic and other documents were taken into account:
- Reform Agenda of North Macedonia 2024-2027;
- Fiscal Policy Statement 2024-2028;
- Recommendations from the Joint conclusions of the Economic and Financial dialogue on 14 May 2024;
- Annual assessment of the Economic Reform Programme 2024-2026;
- 2024 Progress Report on the Republic of North Macedonia;
More information on the European Semester and Economic Governance from the aspect of fulfilling the Copenhagen criteria can be found on the following web pages:
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You can download the previous economic reform programs and all pre-accession economic programs from the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of North Macedonia here.
