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General information – Energy Country Profile

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General Country Information - Energy Administration

  • Area: 25.713 sq km (water: 280 sq km, land; 25.433 sq km)
  • Arable land: 16,4 %
  • Permanent crops: 1,4 % 
  • Forest area: 10.234 sq km
  • Forest land: 39,8 %
  • Population: 2.100.025   
  • GDP (purchasing power parity): $13,13 billions
  • GDP per capita purchasing power parity: $14.500

Public Administration

  • Country name: Republic of North Macedonia
  • Capital: Skopje
  • Administrative divisions: 84 municipalities (opstini, singular - opstina); Aerodrom (Skopje), Aracinovo, Berovo, Bitola, Bogdanci, Bogovinje, Bosilovo, Brvenica, Butel (Skopje), Cair (Skopje), Caska, Centar (Skopje), Centar Zupa, Cesinovo, Cucer Sandevo, Debar, Debarca, Delcevo, Demir Hisar, Demir Kapija, Dojran, Dolneni, Dorce Petrov (Gjorce Petrov) (Skopje), Drugovo, Gazi Baba (Skopje), Gevgelija, Gostivar, Gradsko, Ilinden, Jegunovce, Karbinci, Karpos (Skopje), Kavadarci, Kicevo*, Kisela Voda (Skopje), Kocani, Konce, Kratovo, Kriva Palanka, Krivogastani, Krusevo, Kumanovo, Lipkovo, Lozovo, Makedonska Kamenica, Makedonski Brod, Mavrovo i Rostusa, Mogila, Negotino, Novaci, Novo Selo, Ohrid, Oslomej, Pehcevo, Petrovec, Plasnica, Prilep, Probistip, Radovis, Rankovce, Resen, Rosoman, Saraj (Skopje), Sopiste, Staro Nagoricane, Stip, Struga, Strumica, Studenicani, Suto Orizari (Skopje), Sveti Nikole, Tearce, Tetovo, Valandovo, Vasilevo, Veles, Vevcani, Vinica, Vranestica, Vrapciste, Zajas, Zelenikovo, Zelino, Zrnovci
  • 10 municipalities followed by Skopje in parentheses collectively constitute the larger Skopje Municipality
  • *Municipalities Drugovo, Oslomej, Zajas, no longer exist as such, they are merged with Kicevo municipaliti

Energy Administration

  • The Ministry of Economy, through its Energy Department, is in charge of the country's energy policy.
  • An Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) was created in July 2003 to regulate the energy sector. It is made up of 4 departments and is financed by a tax on the total revenue of energy companies.
  • The Energy Agency of the Republic of North Macedonia was established in 2005 by the Ministry of Economy to promote and coordinate the energy policies and to develop Macedonia's energy sector. It started operating September 2007.
  • Macef (Macedonia Centre for Energy Efficiency) is the agency in charge of promoting energy efficiency.
  • NTES  (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) in the Republic of North Macedonia.
  • With the adoption of the Law on Territorial Organisation of the Local Self-Government in the Republic of North Macedonia in 2004, and the new Regulation on NUTS (Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics) of the European Parliament of 2003, which regulated the joint statistical classification of the territorial units for collecting, processing and disseminating harmonised regional statistics in the Community, a need was imposed to harmonise the existing classification with the newly developed situation.
  • The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, in December 2007, adopted the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – NTES (“Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia” No. 158/2007).
  • The NTES nomenclature provides a single and uniform breakdown of territorial units at regional and local level and it represents a basis for collecting, processing and publishing regional statistics used for planning and running the regional policy in the Republic of North Macedonia.
  • With the Republic of North Macedonia having a candidate country status, the State Statistical Office is obligated to provide Eurostat with regional statistics on various areas, according to the NTES nomenclature.
  • Regions. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – NTES of 2007 consists of 5 levels: NTES level 1 and NTES level 2 represent the whole territory of the Republic of North Macedonia as an administrative unit, NTES level 3 consists of 8 non-administrative units – statistical regions that are formed by grouping the municipalities as administrative units of lower level, NTES level 4 consists of 84 municipalities as administrative units, and NTES level 5 consists of 1767 settlements.

Membership status

  • North Macedonia was the first country to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, in 2001. It has been a candidate country for eight years, since the Commission’s positive Opinion in November 2005 and the Council’s decision in December 2005. Since 2009, the Commission has assessed that the country sufficiently meets the political criteria and recommended the opening of negotiations. The Commission has also recommended, since 2009, that the second stage of the association, under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, should begin.
  • North Macedonia – along with other Western Balkans countries – was identified as a potential candidate for EU membership during the Thessaloniki European Council summit in 2003.
  • North Macedonia applied for EU membership in March 2004.
  • The Commission issued a favourable opinion in November 2005, and the Council decided in December 2005 to grant the country candidate status. In October 2009, the Commission recommended that accession negotiations be opened.

 

Last update: 07 2023