The European Microstates: The Prospect of EU Membership in the Context of Association Agreement Negotiations
Marcin Łukaszewski, Phd
C
urrently, Malta is the smallest EU member state – both in terms of size and population. However, it may soon be replaced by another, even smaller one, since a number of countries in Western Europe have been willing to collaborate with the European Communities already for several decades now. Apart from Switzerland, such enclaves include Andorra, situated between Spain and France; Monaco, located on the French Riviera; Liechtenstein, established between Switzerland and Austria; and two territories in Italy – the Vatican City State and San Marino. Each of the relations between these microstates and the EU is different. It is likely that three of them would be revised soon.
The Vatican City State
The Vatican City is the only one of the five microstates which are not expected, even in the distant future, to become a member of the European Union (both sides are reluctant to do so). The reasons are obvious – the Vatican City is a non-democratic country, a theocracy. It would be difficult to indicate the Copenhagen criteria which the Vatican City State could possibly meet. As a result of the unique political and economic system (the Vatican City does not operate under most of market economy conditions), it will not become an EU member state even in the long term. The Vatican City has settled its relations with the European Community (EC) mainly because its only neighbor is an EU 1/2021
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