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There are a number of microstates in Europe. While there is no clear consensus on which political units qualify as "microstates", most scholars view Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City as examples of such states.〔Catudal, H., 1975. The plight of the Lilliputians: An analysis of five European microstates. Geoforum, 6, pp.187–204〕〔Duursma, J.C., 1996. Fragmentation and the International Relations of Micro-states: Self-determination and Statehood, Cambridge University Press.〕〔Eccardt, T.M., 2005. Secrets of the Seven Smallest States of Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxemborg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City, Hippocrene Books.〕 At the same time, some academics dispute even qualifying Vatican as a state arguing that it does not meet the "traditional criteria of statehood" and that the "special status of the Vatican City is probably best regarded as a means of ensuring that the Pope can freely exercise his spiritual functions, and in this respect is loosely analogous to that of the headquarters of international organisations."〔Mendelson, M., 1972. Diminutive States in the United Nations. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 21(4), pp.609–630.〕 According to the qualitative definition of microstates suggested by Dumienski (2014), microstates can also be viewed as "modern protected states, i.e. sovereign states that have been able to unilaterally depute certain attributes of sovereignty to larger powers in exchange for benign protection of their political and economic viability against their geographic or demographic constraints." And indeed, all of the European microstates are sovereign states that function in a close (and voluntary) association with their respective larger neighbour. Currently, all of the European microstates have special relations with the European Union. Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City remain outside the Union, some because of the cost of membership as the EU has not been designed with microstates in mind. Andorra is, by population, the largest of the 5 microstates with 78,115 according to a census taken in 2011. Two other small countries, Luxembourg and Malta, are full members of the European Union and both inhabited by populations over 400,000. Iceland is considered a microstate by some, because of its small population of 320,060 per April 2012. It is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), and is recognized as an official candidate for accession to the Union, though the negotiations have been suspended. If Iceland accedes to become an EU member state, it would enter as the smallest EU state measured by population, although twelfth largest by geographical size. ==Status of relations== Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City use the euro through monetary agreements with the EU, and have been granted the right to issue a limited number of euro coins. They were allowed to do so as they had used or been tied to the old eurozone currencies. Liechtenstein, on the other hand, uses the Swiss franc. Liechtenstein is a full member of the Schengen Agreement and Dublin Regulation on asylum, while Monaco has an open border with France and Schengen laws are administered as if it were a part of France. San Marino and the Vatican City have an open border with their neighbouring Schengen Area state Italy. No microstates can issue Schengen visas. None of them have any airport, but all have heliports. Monaco has the only seaport. Arrival from outside the Schengen Area is allowed in Monaco but not in the other microstates. Monaco is a part of the EU customs territory through an agreement with France, and is administered as part of France. San Marino and Andorra are in a customs union with the bloc. Liechtenstein, as a member of the EEA, is within the EU internal market and applies certain EU laws. All of the microstates are also part of other organisations such as the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (the Vatican is member only of the OSCE). Andorra, Monaco, and San Marino have all stated their desire to deepen relations with the EU. San Marino had considered joining the EEA in the past,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has met the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=San Martino to participate to the EEA )〕 and held a referendum on submitting an application for EU membership.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Microstates and the European Union」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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