What are the geographic criteria for EU membership?

sportsherald

It is implicit in the statement "Any European country which respects the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law may apply to become a member of the Union. The Treaty on European Union sets out the conditions ( article 6, article 49)." that the candidate country must be in Europe. See http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/the-policy/conditions-for-enlargement/index_en.htm. That site describes Turkey as an accepted candidate, even though much of it lies in Asia, with the smaller part within Europe. Presumably other continent-straddling countries (Russia?) could apply, if they met the other criteria. Dec 21 11, 9:28 PM

author

The so called Copenhagen criteria describes this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_criteria Considering Russia: Well, the countries Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova are fully European states, but are not included in any plans for future EU membership, nor is Russia. Watch this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Further_European_Union_Enlargement2.PNG Dec 25 11, 3:40 AM