One reason Kazahkstan won't be joining the EU soon

I'm an atheist, but I believe absolutely in freedom of religion, something that's enshrined in Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights. It's worth remembering that, not very far away, states make it compulsory to register religions, and in Kazahkstan there's a new law going through which requires new levels of registration:

"Among its controversial articles, the law currently in the drafting stage, would require all religious organizations to reregister meaning that even religious organizations fully registered at this time and in full compliance of all laws would have to go back through the registration process. It would mean that 1) all religious organizations would become illegal until they reregister and it would also allow the law to have retroactive force. In other words, a religious organizatio fully established in Kazakhstan which didn’t meet new requirements would have to pack up and leave."