Next Wave of EU Expansion

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Iceland, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Croatia.

[ottermax]

All but the former Soviet Union states.

Kick out the Baltic?

[2952-0-0]

(No, I am not a Slavophobe.  I mentioned Croatia, right?)

You could call them Slavic, but it's dangerous to do so.

[phk]

Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan.

[GMantis]

Croatia, Macedonia (f**k the Greeks and their incredibly silly language objection), Iceland and Norway (if they want it), and...that's about it.

It'll be a cold day in hell the day Serbia joins the EU.  Letting Russia Jr. poke its snout into the EU tent would be a catastrophe for the whole project.

(No, I am not a Slavophobe.  I mentioned Croatia, right?)

The Macedonians are Slavs as well.
And Serbia had rather good relations with the West when it was part of Yugoslavia and after the overthrow of Miloshevich, but they prefer to have good relations with countries which actually help them.

[BenNebbich]

Croatia, Turkey, Iceland.

good choice.

i think the rest will have to wait. they are not yet ready for the EU.

[MasterJedi]

Let them all in and collapse under it's own weight!

[jeron]

I didn't know Iceland wanted to join the EU. Anyway if it wants to it should immediately. Some major reforms should take place within the EU before any other country can join. In fact these reforms should have been made 10 years ago, before the latest expansion. But the treaties of Amsterdam and Nice were failures. Croatia and Turkey should wait at least 10 years, the other countries cannot join before 2020.

[Silent Hunter]

The Macedonians are Slavs as well.
And Serbia had rather good relations with the West when it was part of Yugoslavia and after the overthrow of Miloshevich, but they prefer to have good relations with countries which actually help them.

Indeed. Remember Tito broke from Moscow early on during the Cold War, which is why I got annoyed during the Eurovision entry selection when Serbia was described as "eastern bloc".

Remember how World War One started.

[jeron]

Indeed. Remember Tito broke from Moscow early on during the Cold War, which is why I got annoyed during the Eurovision entry selection when Serbia was described as "eastern bloc".

Remember how World War One started.
[/quote]

I don't understand why, because they are Eastern bloc. Russia and Serbia were allies during WW I and they are still. Tito was Croatian and not Serbian.

[Јas]

From the International Herald Tribune

EU says Croatia can conclude entry talks in 2009
By David Brunnstrom
Reuters
Published: March 13, 2008

BRUSSELS:
Croatia should be able to conclude talks in 2009 to become the next country to join the European Union, the European Commission said on Thursday, as it sought to encourage integration of the troubled Balkans region.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after talks with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader that the EU executive would give Zagreb an indicative timetable later this year for the steps required to close the accession talks. "I have every confidence that Croatia will be able to meet the conditions...It should be possible to conclude the technical negotiations next year, preferably by the end of the mandate of the Commission (in November 2009)," he told a joint news conference.

Barroso said the target date assumed Croatia would meet all the EU's benchmarks by June this year, which include a reform of the judiciary and a painful restructuring of its state-assisted shipyards. Allowing time for ratification by the 27 member states, that would mean Croatia would join the EU in late 2010 or 2011. ....

[Silent Hunter]

Indeed. Remember Tito broke from Moscow early on during the Cold War, which is why I got annoyed during the Eurovision entry selection when Serbia was described as "eastern bloc".

Remember how World War One started.

I don't understand why, because they are Eastern bloc. Russia and Serbia were allies during WW I and they are still. Tito was Croatian and not Serbian.
[/quote]

Serbia and Croatia were both in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia left the Warsaw Pact in the 1950s and adopted a more neutral policy in the Cold War. Remember, the Iron Curtain was on its Eastern border.

[Tender Branson]

I´d like to see all of the countries above in the European Union by 2050, including Norway, Switzerland and Belarus. Don´t know if Russia wants to join as well ...

[GMantis]

I´d like to see all of the countries above in the European Union by 2050, including Norway, Switzerland and Belarus. Don´t know if Russia wants to join as well ...

No, I don't think so and the EU will probably never admitt them, unless perhaps Russia collapses to a more manageable size.

[Frodo]

Serbia Applying to European Union
 
By REUTERS
Published: December 22, 2009
Filed at 5:40 a.m. ET

BELGRADE/STOCKHOLOM (Reuters) - Serbia will formally apply for European Union membership on Tuesday and take a major step in its efforts to turn its back on the war, poverty and international isolation of the 1990s.

President Boris Tadic will submit the application to Sweden, which holds the rotating EU presidency, a decade after the end of the Balkan wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia and kept it away from mainstream Europe.

Although analysts said this was only the start of a long accession process that could take years, Serbian politicians were jubilant and the news dominated all local media.

"This is a turning point and a new phase, which will require deep and painful reforms but will eventually benefit our citizens," Tadic said.

The move came amid concrete signs that the EU was warming up to the biggest ex-Yugoslav republic, which had suffered United Nations sanctions in the 1990s and was bombed by NATO in 1999 to halt Belgrade's crackdown on the breakaway Kosovo province.

Earlier this month, the EU unblocked an interim trade deal with Serbia and lifted the visa requirements for Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, allowing their citizens to travel freely to the 27-nation bloc.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.

And Iceland. Preferably Ukraine too.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Because obviously headscarves = terrorism.

The European fascination with the relationship between headscarves and Islamic extremism, along with minarets and this extremism has always amazed me.  I don't understand where these concepts come from.

Indeed

[KuntaKinte]

The European fascination with the relationship between headscarves and Islamic extremism, along with minarets and this extremism has always amazed me.  I don't understand where these concepts come from.

It's just old fashioned xenophobia. Muslims are immigrants with darker skin. They don't like.
Since xenophobia is not very popular in 21. century Western Europe of political correctness, they hide it behind phony arguments. Like womens rights' (as if the conservatives ever cared...), or the need to defend our "western way of life". And so on.

[Bo]

I would support all those countries joining the EU except Turkey. Turkey would need to resolve the Cyprus dispute and end its occupation of Northern Cyprus before it should be allowed to join.

[Stranger in a strange land]

All except for Turkey and Azerbaijan, neither of which is really in Europe.

[KuntaKinte]

All except for Turkey and Azerbaijan, neither of which is really in Europe.

Are Georgia and Armenia in Europe?

[minionofmidas]

All except for Turkey and Azerbaijan, neither of which is really in Europe.

Is Cyprus?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Just Croatia and Iceland could get in in the next years. Another massive expansion will give European Federalism the coup de grace.

[Stranger in a strange land]

All except for Turkey and Azerbaijan, neither of which is really in Europe.

Are Georgia and Armenia in Europe?

culturally, yes. Geographically, no. Azerbaijan is not in Europe either culturally or geographically. The same would be true of Turkey but for Istanbul and Turkish Thrace. Also, Azerbaijan is not a democracy. This has nothing to do with being in Europe, but much to do with being in the EU.

[minionofmidas]

All except for Turkey and Azerbaijan, neither of which is really in Europe.

Are Georgia and Armenia in Europe?

culturally, yes.

Uh, in what sense?