Serbian-Macedonian Relation and the Minority Issue in the Process of European Integration

Raduški Nada M. (Autor je naučni savetnik Instituta za političke studije, Beograd), nadaraduski@gmail.com

The disintegration of the multinational SFR Yugoslavia and the constitution of new states also resulted in the creation of the so-called new minorities. New national minorities arose from members of ethnic communities who, after the secession, remained separated from their native peoples, and from the constituent people became a minority in the newly formed states. This paper analyses the status of the Macedonian minority in Serbia and the Serb minority in North Macedonia, exercising of their basic human and minority rights, as well as population development and socio-demographic structure based on official census data. Special attention is paid to bilateral cooperation between Serbia and North Macedonia and bilateral agreements in which an important place is occupied by minority rights, integration of national minorities into all segments of society, and the preservation of ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural characteristics, which is also an important factor in European integration processes for both countries.

Keywords: new minorities, Serbian minority, Macedonian minority, status, rights, identity, bilateral agreements, Serbia, Nort Macedonia, European integration processes