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The Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union. The criteria require that a state has the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights , has a functioning market economy , and accepts the obligations and intent of the European Union .
Upon the fall of the Iron Curtain, the CSCE was transformed in 1990 into Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Communities enlarged for a fourth time through the German reunification, while other former communist European countries stated their firm commitment to join, prompting formulation of the Copenhagen criteria.
The Copenhagen criteria are the rules that define whether a country is eligible to join the European Union.The criteria require that a state have the institutions to preserve democratic governance and human rights, a functioning market economy, and that the state accept the obligations and intent of the EU.
The Copenhagen criteria stated in 1993 that a country must be a democracy, operate a free market, and be willing to adopt the entire body of EU law already agreed upon. Also in 1993 the European Economic Area was established with the EFTA states except Switzerland. Most of the new EEA states pursued full EU membership as the EEA did not ...
According to the Copenhagen criteria, membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free-market liberal democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights. Furthermore, it has to be willing to accept all the obligations of membership, such as adopting all previously agreed law (the 170,000 pages of ...
At a European Council Summit held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 June and 22 June 1993, [2] the European Union defined the Copenhagen criteria regarding the conditions a candidate country has to fulfill to be considered eligible for accession to the European Union: Membership criteria require that the candidate country must have achieved:
The accession criteria are included in the Copenhagen criteria, agreed in 1993, and the Treaty of Maastricht (Article 49). Article 49 of the Maastricht Treaty (as amended) says that any European state that respects the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law , may apply to join ...
To achieve this, however, they must fulfil the appropriate conditions." Those conditions (known as the Copenhagen criteria, or simply, membership criteria) were: That candidate countries achieve stable institutions that guarantee democracy, legality, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.