Zabrcanec: Almost all parties in North Macedonia support the "Open Balkan"

The national coordinator for the "Open Balkan" and regional initiatives in North Macedonia, Marjan Zabrcanec, said that everything was ready for the implementation of the work permit cancellation between North Macedonia, Serbia, and Albania. He added that the three countries were already software networked, which meant that a citizen would be recognized in the employment system in any of the three countries.

He appealed to the deputies in Skopje to ratify the international agreement as soon as possible, which eliminated these issues, because everything else was ready.

"If you have an IT company from Skopje and your employees work online for Tirana or Belgrade, there will be no need to obtain work permits. They will be able to work and act according to the rules of the other two countries, to receive a salary from Serbia or Albania, and even to have a pension and health insurance in Serbia and Albania", Zabrcanec explained.

He said that there was information already that some of the big companies that needed a workforce were waiting for the start of this project to attract workers from all countries.

"The fear of citizens leaving the country is not justified because this is multidirectional. If someone goes to work in Serbia, others from Serbia will come to work here," Zabrcanec said.

He also referred to the tourism benefits that the country would have from the initiative.

"One of the initiatives of the Open Balkan is the 'packing' of the region as a region that is attractive for tourism, for gastronomy, a region with good food and attractive for good wine," Zabrcanec said.

Speaking about the importance of the "Open Balkan", Zabrcanec pointed out that it was piloting the EU membership.

"The Open Balkan initiative is a kind of piloting of our membership in the European Union. What we are doing with the Open Balkan – enabling greater cooperation, free flow of trade products, and increasing exports as a result of green belts – is what the EU is. The EU was created based on economic cooperation. The Open Balkan cannot be a substitute for the EU, but it is an accelerator of our European integrations," Zabrcanec added.