PURPOSE: to include Bulgaria and Romania in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement concluded with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision
CONTENT: on 9 April 2001, the Community and its Member States signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (by exchange of letters) with the FYROM (for more information see AVC/2001/0049).
On 23 October 2006, the Council authorised the Commission to open negotiations, on behalf of the Community and its Member States, with the FYROM in order to conclude a Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, on the one hand, and the FYROM, on the other, to take account of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.
Four negotiating rounds took place, on 27 October 2006, 27 November 2006, 29 March 2007 and 11 May 2007. The Protocol was signed by the Commission and the Government of the FYROM by exchange of letters on 26 July and 13 September 2007. The protocol must now be concluded on behalf of the European Community and its Member States and be given approval for conclusion by the European Atomic Energy Community.
That is the aim of the current proposal which, in order to do this, uses a specific procedure.
The text of the protocol appears in the annex of the proposal.