For the purposes of keeping this simple, perhaps we should reword or explain what "partially recognized" means? Kansan (talk) 16:40, 11 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This template in its current form has many problems:

• We currently do not express the way the "dependent territories" relate to the states they depend on. Greenland and the Faroe Islands are very independent from Denmark; Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guyana, Reunion are "parts of France outside Europe"
• It is currently unclear which territories to list (French Polynesia? - British Arctic territories? - Falkland Islands? - Pitcairn? British Indian Ocean Territory? - Tristan da Cunha - Melilla and Ceuta - Azores?
• Information needs to be verified? - Which of the former USSR states are in Europe, in Asia, etc
• We need to fix the unrecognised/partially recognised problem. ("Turkish Republic of N. Cyprus, Transdnistria, Kosovo, ...)
• Svabard and Jan Mayen. Last I checked Jan Mayen had like less than 100 people, mostly scientists doing research.Svalbard might be similar.

In other words can we come up with criteria to apply so that we can include, or Exclude a country/territory? - The Republic of Cyprus is in the European Unuion, even though Cyrpus (the Island) is in Asia. Bananas from French Guyana are "products of the European Union".

Any ideas? --Eptalon (talk) 17:42, 11 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't necessarily object to removing all dependencies for the sake of brevity. It would solve the dilemma of whether to include territories such as French Guiana and Greenland, and provide a clear brightline for inclusion. I also wonder whether removing those countries that are geographically considered part of Asia but "culturally" lumped with Europe (such as Cyprus) might be wise due to the difficulty of determining an absolute criteria for what would fall under that category. I remember a dispute on the English Wikipedia on en:Racism in association football as to whether to list Israel as a part of Asia or Europe because apparently for purposes of sport, Israel competes with European countries. Israel is clearly not a part of Europe geographically, nor are any of the countries it borders.

As for the unrecognized/partially recognized, perhaps the best way to label it would be something like "Many countries do not recognize this as a country." Kansan (talk) 17:51, 11 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

1 - Part of the country, or its dependencies are outside Europe; 2. Most countries do not consider the territory a country of its own and then list only the countries "in Europe"; for countries outside Europe, do not list them unless they are EU members (Cyprus, Malta), or candidate countries (Turkey). Still leaves us with the problem of checking all the former East Block countries. Do not list any dependencies; for simplicity Faroe/Greenland are "part of" Denmark; Gibraltar and the two military bases on Cyprus are "part of" the UK; Ceuta and Melilla are "part of" Spain, the Azores of Portugal, etc. --Eptalon (talk) 18:04, 11 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]