The copenhagen criteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The copenhagen criteria - Essay Example In order to acquire the European Union membership the candidate countries should fulfil the above-mentioned three criteria. Since the enlargement process by European Council was held at Copenhagen, the name Copenhagen criteria came into existence. "Neither the EU nor the candidate countries have the power to change the geographical reality on the ground or the definitions of terms long defined in the English language in respect of physical and political geographic descriptions" (Wikipedia). The enlargement process is resolved at the beginning before taking an opinion of the application of a particular country. There is no geographical limit for any European country to join European Union. Some cases of non-European countries2 came into picture but none the less it is not possible for non- European states to attain a European Union membership. It has been stated that there is no possibility of non-European countries to become EU member but ironically some of the countries, which were geographically apart from Europe, were given European Union membership. Countries like French Guiana and Greenland, which were geographically not connected to Europe, were given EU membership. ... It has been stated that there is no possibility of non-European countries to become EU member but ironically some of the countries, which were geographically apart from Europe, were given European Union membership. Countries like French Guiana and Greenland, which were geographically not connected to Europe, were given EU membership. The reasons cited for their inclusion was French Guiana was an integral part of French Republic and Greenland joined the EEC as a Danish dependency. It clearly shows the double standards employed in the inclusion.One of the biggest headaches for European Union member states is inclusion of Turkey as a EU member. Turkey has been declared as a candidate for membership. At first European Union declined the inclusion of Turkey as a member. To become a EU member every country has to fulfil the Copenhagen Criteria and Turkey was well short of the above-mentioned criteria. One of the reasons for turning down Turkey's candidature was its being a non Christian st ate. The majority community of Turkey is Muslims. Since shariat3 law was enforced as it has been in every other Islamic country, became one of the reasons for its being declined.The human rights record of Turkey was well below the mark. They had very bad human rights record. Since it is an Islamic country there was a fear of terrorists residing in Turkey. Due to the increase in terror activities Muslim sympathisers may take advantage of the membership and might cause damage to the European Union members. They might indulge in terrorist activities. There is no gender equality in Turkey. Women were treated as slaves. They don't have any independence inside