DISINFO: Russophobia is now a criterion for joining the EU
SUMMARY
It is now possible to become a member of the European Union if only you can curry favour in the field of Russophobia.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in the EU.
For background, read our analysis: The “Russophobia” Myth: Appealing to the Lowest Feelings.
The most comprehensive source of EU membership criteria since the mid-1990s has been the 1993 Copenhagen Declaration, in which these are summarised as follows:
"Membership requires that the candidate country has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, the existence of a functioning market economy s well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union. Membership presupposes the candidate's ability to take on the obligations of membership including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union."
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that European Nazism is alive and it manifests itself in Russophobia, that EU is Russophobic enforcer of the secret global government, that Anglo-Saxons turn Europe into the 4th Reich, that Scandinavia is turning Russophobic, that Russophobia on the rise in the Baltic States at the behest of the Anglo-Saxons, that Russophobia and neo-Nazism the norm in the Baltic states and Ukraine, or that US encourages anti-Russian aspirations of former Warsaw Pact members.