Category talk:Countries in Europe

message: This category is clearly broken. When one clicks on category:European countries, they expect to see the list of countries, not a list of further arbitrary subdivisions. What should be done is:
*Move categories like Baltic States and Benelux to :Category:Europe, alongside categories like Central Europe and Eastern Europe.
*Put all European countries into category:European countries :)
Zocky 13:52, 12 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I did the former now. --Joy [shallot] 21:38, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

text: I agree with the move of the regions from this category to Europe, and I think that all the European countries could be gathered in one category. I also prefer the notion of a category that lists only countries that are sovereign states. :Category:EU countries currently lists more than the 25 member states, and transferring all articles and subcategories here would adopt a problem where both the Republic of Irland and the Island of Ireland somehow are listed. This would potentially open for several other articles not relating to sovereign states to be categorized here unless the criteria is strictly enforced. The alternative could be to rename the entire category, but this would affect categorization for all countries, as well as categories listed by countries. See Category talk:EU countries for more on this. :Category:EU countries should be replaced by :Category:EU members. -- Mic 22:31, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Note that the EU countries category has been moved to :Category:European Union member states. Aranel ("Sarah") 18:45, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Comment

message: Why are all these articles of countries in Eurovision Song Contest in this category? They're all very distracting, and extremely irrelevant to this category.Chanheigeorge 01:15, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Articles of countries in Eurovision Song Contest 

message: It strikes me that most (if not all) of the countries we're dealing with here have their own subcategories. As such, what we're dealing with under the current categorization scheme is a layout that essentially lists every country twice. I would suggest that we delist individual country articles from this category, since each country already has a subcategory here. There are already other "flat" listings of European nations (like the template), so it's probably not necessary to duplicate that listing here, especially since it amounts to non-standard (if not entirely unprecedent or unaccepted) use of the categorization system. In fact, we could even theoretically stick the  template at the top of the category in place of actually listing each country's article. It would maintain the ability to quickly access any country's entry from the category listing, but would do so in a more compressed format, and simplify category maintenance. Thoughts, anyone? – Seancdaug 09:54, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Revisiting the categorization scheme 

message: IMHO, this category should have 'only' independant countries. GoodDay (talk) 15:44, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that the non-independent ones should be subcategorized, but they still belong in principle within this category, unless we rename it to "Independent European countries" (though I see someone's already created a "Sovereign states" category to handle this issue).--Kotniski (talk) 16:05, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Independant countries 

message: I have added Wales to this category. Scotland was already in it. Can we establish a consensus that they should remain in the category, not just "subcategories" of the UK, as that wouldn't make sense in this context.Titus Gold (talk) 19:57, 14 August 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: They & England should not be in any 'country' categories, period. Countries in this case meaning sovereign states. But, in order to avoid such disputes, I'd recommend changing the name of such categories from "Countries.." to "Sovereign states..." GoodDay (talk) 05:51, 15 August 2022 (UTC)

text: If anything, this category should be renamed "Sovereign states in Europe" & thus limited to sovereign states. See discussion I've opened at WP:CATEGORY. -- GoodDay (talk) 06:13, 15 August 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] 

message: * :Category:Countries in Europe to :Category:Sovereign states in Europe – C2C: We've got List of sovereign states, List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe. Also, re-naming category, will remove any additions of non-independent countries. GoodDay (talk) 02:29, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: * Oppose speedy, this conflicts with the convention set by the tree of :Category:Countries. It also conflicts, more or less, with WP:COMMONNAME. Marcocapelle (talk) 06:40, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: *I'd also recommend that all categories with "Countries" in their title, be changed to "Sovereign states". It's problematic having England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland treated as though they're equal to the United Kingdom. GoodDay (talk) 15:59, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: *Oppose Speedy for the same reasons mentioned above. Additionally, like it or not, Scotland, England and Wales are regarded as countries, albeit not sovereign. Their status has long been complicated particularly since the Treaty of Union, but the fact remains that they have always been, and currently are, commonly referred to as countries. They are not states, regions or provinces, but countries, and this is what the category is in relation to; countries, not particularly sovereign states. It seems to me that perhaps you are trying to eliminate the fact that Scotland, England and Wales have continued to be known as countries despite no longer being sovereign countries. Goodreg3 (talk) 21:41, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: *This has nothing to do with what Scotland, England and Wales are called. This is about them not belonging in the same category as the United Kingdom. By having the category re-named, we'll be able to 'correctly' remove them from the category. Neither England, Scotland, Wales (or Northern Ireland) are independent & shouldn't be treated as though they were. GoodDay (talk) 07:51, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

text: *Additionally, in some areas, such as law, health care and education, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in many respects treated equally and differently from the United Kingdom, and it is their devolved government which legislates for those areas and therefore certain statistics in those areas are counted as different from that of the overall United Kingdom. Additionally, there is football, rugby union, Commonwealth Games on a lower level which have separate representation. If each were not countries, they would not have their own individual representation at sporting events. Goodreg3 (talk) 21:45, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: *Having England, Scotland & Wales in the same category as the United Kingdom, suggests that they're not a part of the United Kingdom. But are rather independent countries. That's the problem with categories named "countries" - the word 'country' has multiple meanings & can create confusion. GoodDay (talk) 07:43, 12 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Opposed speedy move request