By Oliver Andonov

Migration and migrants are not merely a matter of geographic or spatial movement of populations. In basic terminological terms, migration refers to processes, while migrants are the individuals who participate in and drive those processes. It is a complex issue that goes far beyond security alone and touches on every aspect of society — including the economy, finance, culture, religion, education, and social policy. Ultimately, migration represents a challenge for society as a whole.

Security, often singled out as the dominant concern, does not affect only states located along migration routes or those that serve as final destinations. Security also concerns migrants themselves — first and foremost because migration is not an adventure, but a necessity. Leaving one’s home requires a powerful reason. Most often, migration is driven by two fundamental motivations. The first is a direct threat to life due to war or autocratic regimes, resulting in political migration. The second is existential or socio-economic in nature, aimed at reaching a destination where at least a minimum standard of living can be secured.

For these reasons, migrants’ final destinations are most often economically prosperous countries in the European Union or the United States, where social and existential security can be achieved. Other countries, including North Macedonia, typically serve as transit states. For destination countries, the key challenge lies in integrating migrants into society — but prior to that, in properly screening them to prevent criminal infiltration. Successful integration depends exclusively on the capacity and competence of state institutions to organize and implement integration policies, particularly when there are stark cultural, educational, social, or religious differences between migrants and host societies. This must be done in line with national legislation on migration and asylum, as well as EU directives applicable to EU member states and candidate countries.

In North Macedonia, migration as a political issue occupies a special place in the rhetoric of political actors — largely as material for daily political point-scoring. It has little to do with humanitarian principles, assistance to people whose lives are at risk, or genuine existential concerns, primarily because North Macedonia is not an attractive final destination for migrants. Even the issue of criminal or security-related profiling of migrants is treated as secondary.

This is not because security concerns are unimportant for North Macedonia, but because the state lacks sufficient capacity to independently conduct detailed procedures and establish comprehensive criminal-security profiles of migrants. An even greater challenge lies in the country’s limited institutional, financial, economic, and — above all — social capacity to receive and integrate migrants, which also makes the state vulnerable to external influence. In this context, it is largely irrelevant whether migrants are legally present (for example, repatriated from third countries where they initially migrated), entered the country irregularly as part of a migration route, or intend to remain and settle permanently.

What is often reduced to political maneuvering and polarization within Macedonian society is, in fact, a topic that deserves serious consideration at all levels and across all sectors of society. It calls for thorough academic and expert debate — one grounded in facts, arguments, and real needs — to determine whether North Macedonia needs to accommodate migrants and, if so, under what conditions.

There is no need for secret negotiations or courting major powers. Nor is there a need to “purchase” goodwill toward the country or the current government by accepting migrants in exchange for financial compensation, under the pretext of buying short-term social stability.

At the same time, there is no justification for fostering national hysteria or anti-migrant public discourse. Such approaches amount to short-term PR operations with limited immediate effects and long-term negative consequences. Migrants, first and foremost, must be included in society — a process that requires stable institutions, serious programs, and sustained engagement by experts across multiple fields and levels.

It is also worth noting that every year, several thousand people settle in North Macedonia and become its residents or citizens on various legal grounds. Simultaneously, emigration of Macedonian citizens — predominantly young people — toward the EU and the United States represents another migration process unfolding in parallel.

Migration is not a one-way phenomenon. It unfolds in waves that intensify in the globalized world and will continue to do so as economic disparities widen, the risk of war and life-threatening conditions grows, and autocratic regimes proliferate. North Macedonia will not be immune to these processes. However, there is a clear and urgent need to regulate migration through a solid legal framework — especially given the country’s significant labor shortages in certain professions.

The issue of migration and the state’s approach to it demands seriousness translated into long-term strategy, not daily political theatrics or parliamentary resolutions that say little and serve only to fill an ideologically empty political space or to entertain and divide the public.

It is critically important for North Macedonia to begin EU accession negotiations, enabling it to define strategic objectives related to migration and align its domestic legislation with EU law. This is particularly relevant given that the European Commission’s most recent Progress Report on North Macedonia assessed the chapter “Migration and Asylum” negatively, noting a lack of progress.

For all these reasons, it is both unnecessary and harmful for anyone to manipulate this issue — whether to gain domestic political points or to curry favor with wealthier and more powerful states in hopes of securing financial resources for an already strained state budget. At stake are human lives and destinies — both those of Macedonian citizens and of migrants themselves. Above all, what matters are long-term policies that serve North Macedonia’s interests in every respect.

This is not a matter of daily political maneuvering or an internal political skirmish. It is a serious political discourse intrinsically linked to the European Union and the broader regional context.

The author is a professor at the Military Academy in Skopje
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