European Union representation within those institutions, a practice often referred to as "pooling of sovereignty". To become a member, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen. These require a stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the criteria is the responsibility of the European Council. No member state has yet left the Union, although Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985. Article 50 of
Greenland financial losses. An alternative between Greenland and the United States/Canada is Air Iceland/Icelandair with a plane change in Iceland. Sea passenger and freight transport is served by the coastal ferries operated by Arctic Umiaq Line. It makes a single round trip per week, taking 80 hours each direction. Greenland has a population of 56,370 (January 2013 estimate), of whom 88% are Greenlandic Inuit (including mixed persons). The remaining 12% are of European descent, mainly Greenland Danes. Several thousand Greenlandic Inuit reside in the Danish Peninsula. The majority of the population is Lutheran. Nearly all Greenlanders live along the fjords in