Iceland and the European Union

MEPs surprised by lack of support for EU membership

2011-09-10T13:00:00.002Z

A delegation of MEPs from the European Parliament visited Iceland on September 7-9 meeting with government ministers, leading people from labour unions and employers and from organisations for and against membership of the European Union. After meeting with the MEPs the leader of the Icelandic no movement, Ásmundur Einar Daðason who also is a member of the Icelandic Parliament, wrote on his Facebook page yesterday:

"Just came from a meeting with members of the European Parliament who are staying in the country. They wanted to meet leading people from the no and yes movements. They seemed very surprised at the great opposition to an Icelandic EU membership. This meeting confirmed what many people have argued that the leaders of the government are not giving the correct picture of the situation of this matter in Iceland."

Source:
Ásmundur Einar Daðason MP's Facebook page

64 percent want the EU application withdrawn

2011-08-30T15:36:00.003Z

New online poll by the radio station Bylgjan (one of the most popular in Iceland) suggests that 64 percent of those either agreeing or disagreeing want the country's application to join the European Union withdrawn. 36 percent want to proceed with it. The results of the poll were published on August 17.

Source:
Bylgjan online poll

The conservatives and liberals want to stop Iceland's accession process

2011-08-19T11:42:00.005Z

The chairman of the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), Bjarni Benediktsson, again stressed in a radio interview earlier this week his party's policy that Iceland's ongoing application to join the European Union should be withdrawn without delay. Asked if he would withdraw it if his party would enter govenment he replied with a firm 'yes'.

In an article in the Icelandic daily Morgunblaðið yesterday the chairman of the liberal Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, called for the EU application to be put aside and the accession negotiations stopped while the EU is sorting out its economic difficulties and it becomes clear what the outcome of that will be. His party's policy, accepted earlier this year, firmly states that Iceland's interests are best secured outside the EU.

Next general elections will be held according to schedule in the spring of 2013 if the current fragile center-left coalition government will hold onto power until then. The next government to take power in Iceland is likely to be either a coalition between the Independence Party and the Progressive Party or to involve at least one of the two parties.

According to the latest public opinion polls in Iceland the vast majority of Icelanders both oppose joining the EU and wants to withdraw the application. For over two years now all opinion polls have shown a majority against EU membership.

Sources:
Vill slíta aðildarviðræðum (Mbl.is August 14, 2011)
Vill leggja ESB-umsóknina til hliðar (Mbl.is August 18, 2011)

New poll: Majority as before against EU membership

2011-08-11T21:34:00.002Z

New opinion poll was published in Iceland today produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn, the Icelandic No movement. According to it 64.5 percent oppose joining the European Union while 35.5 percent favour it measuring only those who either said yes or no.

In a similar poll produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn in June 57.3 percent rejected EU membership while 42.7 percent favoured it. According to that opposition to joining the EU has increased this summer while support for membership has declined.

For more than two years every single opinion poll in Iceland has shown vast majority of Icelanders opposed to EU membership.

Source:
Vaxandi andstaða við aðild að ESB (Mbl.is August 11, 2011)

Majority of Icelanders wants to withdraw the EU application

2011-06-30T12:53:00.002Z

The majority of Icelanders want to withdraw Iceland's application to join the European Union according to a fresh opinion poll produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn, the Icelandic No-movement.

51 percent favour withdrawal of the application, 38.5 percent want to carry on with it, and 10.5 percent have not made up their minds. If only those in favour or opposed to withdrawing the application are
counted about 57 percent want to withdraw it.

The question asked was: "How much are you in favour of or opposed to Iceland withdrawing its application for membership of the European Union?" The poll was carried out June 16-23 and 820 people were asked.

Source:
Meirihluti vill draga ESB-umsóknina til baka (Mbl.is June 30, 2011)

Continued majority against EU membership in Iceland

2011-03-17T12:36:00.003Z

The vast majority of Icelanders are still opposed to joining the European Union according to a new opinion poll published today, March 17, in the business newspaper Viðskiptablaðið. 55.7 percent oppose EU membership while 30 percent favour the step. 14.2 percent are uncertain.

A recent poll by Capacent published on March 10 put the opposition to EU membership at 50.5 percent, the support at 31.4 percent and the uncertain at 18 percent.

The last poll before that was published by Capacent in July 2010 putting the opposition at 60 percent, the support at 26 percent and those uncertain at 14 percent.

Every poll published in Iceland since August 2009, made by different polling companies, has shown a large majority of Icelanders against joining the EU and only about 1/3 in favour.

Source:
Viðskiptablaðið March 17, 2011

Less than 18 percent want the current government

2010-11-14T00:53:00.001Z

According to a new opinion poll by the polling company MMR published November 11 less than 18 percent want the current left wing government in Iceland, which applied for membership of the European Union in 2009, to continue governing the country. The rest wants other froms of governments or is uncertain.

Source:
The MMR poll

Growing EU division in the Icelandic government

2010-11-13T13:05:00.005Z

There seem to be growing divisions in the Icelandic government over the application for membership of the European Union delivered in the summer of 2009. Today the Minister of Justice, Ögmundur Jónasson, (from the Left Green Movement) says in an article in the Icelandic daily Morgunblaðið that he wants the accession negotiations to be concluded in two months time and the referendum to take place in the wake of that.

Jónasson also says in the article that this is possible if the accession process will be stripped down to "real negotiations" as he phrased it with no alignment to EU laws and administration as the EU demands alongside the talks. Jónasson voted in favour of the EU application in 2009 despite being opposed to membership. In a media interview today he said that he did not vote in favour of an alignment of Iceland to EU demands.

Source:
Vill ljúka aðildaviðræðum á tveimur mánuðum (Vísir.is November 13, 2010)

Says the government has no intention to join the EU

2010-11-11T14:11:00.004Z

Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of Iceland's Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), the largest opposition party and the country's largest political part according to opinion polls, said in a radio interview on November 7 that the government should simply tell the European Union the truth, that in reality there is no meaning behind the accession process on the government's behalf.

"I think this is stranded at the moment. Very little is really happening. Despite the commitment by the [leadership of the] Left Green Movement to support the accession process they are stalling it every week. Then it is much cleaner simply to tell the people on the other end: We don't mean anything with this," Benediktsson said.

He said to his opinion it was a wrong move for the government to apply for EU membership.

Source:
Meinum ekkert með þessu (Mbl.is November 7, 2010)

Only 30 percent now support Iceland's government

2010-11-09T10:13:00.002Z

New public opinion poll in Iceland produced by Capacent shows that only 30 percent now support the country's center-left government led by the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), which is the only Icelandic political party that favours joining the European Union. The SDA got almost 30 percent in the general elections in April 2009 but now has only 18 percent according to the poll.

Meanwhile the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) now has 36 percent and is by far the largest political party in Iceland according to polls in recent months. Traditionally the party has been Iceland's largest party for decades but it lost that status briefly after the 2008 financial crash in Iceland. The party has the policy thatthe country's ongoing EU application should be withdrawn immediately.

Source:
Fylgi ríkisstjórnarinnar hrynur (Mbl.is November 1, 2010)

Only about 18 percent trust the European Union

2010-10-19T13:17:00.002Z

According to a new opinion poll by the polling company MMR only 17.9 percent of Icelanders trust the European Union while 53.5 percent do not trust it. If those neutral are not taken into the picture about 75 percent do not trust the EU.

Source:
The MMR poll

Iceland's government unlikely to finish EU membership negotiations says a member of the government's negotiating team

2010-10-15T11:36:00.004Z

"The current government will very unlikely finish the membership negotiations with the European Union. That will only happen through a powerful leadership from the center and right wing of the [Icelandic] politics," said Þorsteinn Pálsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland and former chairman of the conservative Independence Party, in a speech on last October 6. Pálsson is also a member of the current center-left government's team with the task of negotiating EU membership which make his comment even more interesting.

The Independence Party, which is currently leading the opposition, has the policy not only to oppose membership of the EU but that the application for membership shall be withdrawn immediately.

Source:
Þorsteinn Pálsson's speech (in Icelandic)

Only 25 percent want the euro

2010-10-12T19:25:00.001Z

New internet poll by the Icelandic radio station Bylgjan suggests that only 25 percent of Icelanders want to replace the national currency, the króna, with the euro. This is about the same percentage that wants to join the EU according to repeated opinion polls over the past twelve months. At the same time 44 percent want to keep the króna in one way or another, either pegged to the US dollar or the euro or not. Also according to the poll 26 percent want to adopt the dollar as Iceland's currency.

Source:
Hvað vilt þú gera í gjaldmiðilsmálum landsins? (Bylgjan.is October 12, 2010)

Iceland's Foreign Minister in an growing desperation

2010-09-17T10:33:00.008Z

Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson has an article today in the Icelandic tabloid DV where he lashes out aginst those in Iceland who are fighting against membership of the European Union, and have always fought against it, for doing that. This is seen as yet another token of the growing desperation among membership supporters that the application is heading for even more difficulties than it has already.

Skarphéðinsson's government has been distancing itself from the application in recent months claiming on a number of occasions it was not the government's policy to apply but merely the decision of the Icelandic parliament. The reason probably being the growing opposition to the application both among the voters in general and within the junior coalition partner the Left Green Movement.

As everyone else in Iceland Skarphéðinsson knows that the EU application was exceptionally poorly prepared and that it was rushed into it despite the fact that there has never been a necessary support in Iceland for taking such a step, neither political nor public. The Foreign Minister, however, chooses instead to blame those who everyone knew would continue to fight against an EU application for the mess.

On top of this there are rumours that MPs from Skarphéðinsson's Social Democratic Alliance, the current senior coalition parner and the only political party in Iceland that favours EU membership, are now hoping to form a new and less fragile government with the conservative Independence Party which has the policy that the EU application must be withdrawn immediately.

New internet poll in Iceland on the EU

2010-09-09T08:37:00.003Z

New internet poll was made public today in Iceland which shows 58% opposed to membership of the European Union and 29% in favour. The poll was made yesterday by the popular Icelandic radio station Bylgjan.

Although this poll was not produced as scientificly as for example ones produced by Capacent (a question was simply asked at the second most popular Icelandic website where everyone could participate but each ip-number only once) the results are nevertheless surprisingly in line with such purely scientific polls.

Source:
Reykjavík síðdegis spurði: Hver er þín afstaða til ESB aðildar Íslands í dag? (Bylgjan.is September 9, 2010)

New government policy: No mention of the EU application

2010-09-05T13:29:00.004Z

Significant changes were made to the Icelandic center-left government last week with new ministers coming in and others leaving. After these changes political analysts have said there is more hostility against membership of the European Union within the government than was before they took place.

But what has been seen as the most interesting change is that the new government policy does not mention the EU issue at all unlike the original government platform. However, this is in line with repeated statements by government ministers in recent months that the ongoing EU application is not the policy of the government but merely the decision of the Icelandic parliament.

This has led to speculations in Iceland that the government, especially the junior partner the Left Greens, may be preparing an organised retreat on the issue. After all it has become clear that not only the government is split on the question whether to proceed with the application but also the senior government partner the social democrats.

Source:
Þögn um Icesave og ESB aðild í 20 mála verkefnaskrá ríkisstjórnarinnar (Evropuvaktin.is September 2, 2010)

Majority now also against membership talks

2010-09-04T17:09:00.002Z

For years supporters of membership of the European Union told the Icelandic people it was possible to enter some kind of a scouting membership talks with the EU without any formatlity or obligations. In Icelandic it was called "könnunarviðræður". Membership talks with the sole aim to see exactly what the EU had to offer.

Even when the application for EU membership was delivered last year by the Icelandic government its leaders claimed the aim was not to join the EU but merely to see what it had to offer and they are still saying this. Now they are finally realising that the EU has whole other ideas about the process after the application.

For years public opinion polls as a result showed a majority for "membership talks" while there was usually majority at the same time against in polls asking if people were in favour of "applying for EU membership". But now people have obviously finally realised that some scouting membership talks are not on the table.

As a result a new poll produced for the pro-EU movement in Iceland showed a majority against "membership talks". This was in fact their final straw when it came to public opinion polls and now they don't have that anymore.

Increasing support for the Independence Party

2010-09-02T11:19:00.001Z

The support for the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) has increased significantly this summer after the party underlined its opposition to membership of the European Union by demanding that the application would be withdrawn without delay.

The Independence Party continues to be by far the largest political party and now has according to Capacent poll 35 percent of the votes compared to only 24 percent in the last general elections in Iceland in the spring of 2009.

The party which has lost most support according to the poll is the Social Democratic Alliance which is the only Icelandic political party that favours EU membership.

Source:
Fylgi Sjálfstæðisflokksins eykst á milli mánaða (Capacent.is August 12, 2010)

Applying for EU membership not the government's policy

2010-08-27T22:48:00.007Z

Iceland's Finance Minister, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, gave a statement at a press meeting on Tuesday that it was neither his government's policy to apply for membership of the European Union nor join up. It was merely the decision of the country's parliament to send in an application.

This Sigfússon said in the wake of recent comments by the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, Jón Bjarnason, to the newspaper Morgunblaðið that the whole accession process should be stopped since it was not just simple negotiations as the Icelandic people had be told.

Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was also answering questions at the press meeting and underlined Sigfússon's statement by saying that the Fisheries and Agriculture Minister had an obligation to execute decisions by the parliament just like other government ministers.

This is in line with previous comments this year by Iceland's Foreign Minister that the EU application was not the government's policy but only the parliament's decision and that the purpose of the application was primarily to see what the EU had to offer but not to join.

Source:
„Ekki stefna ríkisstjórnarinnar að sækja um aðild að ESB“ - Hver sótti þá um aðild Steingrímur? (Pressan.is August 24, 2010)

EU membership? No thank you!

2010-07-30T21:51:00.000Z

European politicians and journalists visiting Iceland in recent months have been quite astonished to experience first hand how little interest Icelandic MPs and Icelanders in general have in joining the European Union. So astonished in fact that Icelandic lawmakers have repeatedly been asked if the EU application delivered by the Icelandic government in 2009 is really serious. Well, quite frankly it isn't. It is a door bell prank. No one really is there when the bell rings and the door is opened.

There is a reason why Iceland has never before applied to join the EU. There has always been a strong opposition to membership in the country. The necessary support among the Icelandic people has in fact never been there and the present government was and is well aware of that. Still the EU was deliberately told differently. And now the EU is waking up to a bad dream and realising that Icelanders quite simply don't want to join the EU and never have. That the EU application is in fact a lame duck.

Read the whole article

Iceland's Foreign Minister in his own world

2010-07-24T15:06:00.003Z

Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson said yesterday in an interview with Mbl.is, the website of the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið, that he thought that support for his government's application to join the European Union had increased among Icelandic MPs. Ask what evidence he had for his claim he said he knew the parliament. Skarphéðinsson's Social Democratic Alliance is the senior partner in Iceland's current coalition government and the country's only pro-EU political party.

Today Mbl.is has asked leading people from the other political parties represented in the Icelandic parliament, Althingi, if their think support for EU membership has increased among their MPs. They all agree that they haven't sensed anything of that sort but on the contrary that there is a rising scepticism among them. This includes the chairman of the Left Greens, the junior coalition partner. It is safe to say that Skaphéðinsson's comments have amazed people in Iceland as no one recognises them to be true. Not even MPs in his own party find them in the position of being able to back up his comments.

Skarphéðinsson has been travelling to various EU countries this summer speaking with leading people about his government's EU application and has probably been giving them a wrong picture of the situation in Iceland including the claim that support has been increasing for EU membership among the country's MPs. The only plauseble reason why the Foreign Minister is putting forward this claim must be an attempt to calm Brussels over the little support joining the EU has in Iceland.

Sources:
Aukinn stuðningur við aðild (Mbl.is July 23, 2010)
Afstaða VG til ESB óbreytt (Mbl.is July 24, 2010)
Skynjar ekki aukinn stuðning (Mbl.is July 24, 2010)
Össur að tala til Brussel (Mbl.is July 24, 2010)
Ummæli Össurar koma á óvart (Mbl.is July 24, 2010)

New poll: Continued 60 percent against EU membership

2010-07-04T10:29:00.004Z

According to a new public opinion poll in Iceland produced by Capacent 60 percent oppose joining the European Union while only 26 percent are in favour. The rest is undecided. This is in line with repeated previous polls.

Taking only into the picture those in favour or opposed to EU membership about 70 percent of Icelanders are opposed to joining the bloc.

Source:
Viðhorf til Evrópusambandsaðildar Íslands (Capacent.is July 6, 2010)
Aðeins fjórðungur vill í ESB (Mbl.is July 1, 2010)
Mikil andstaða við aðild að ESB (Rúv.is July 1, 2010)

The Independence Party demands EU application withdrawal

2010-06-29T20:45:00.000Z

During its national congress last weekend the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) stressed its previous policy that the interests of Iceland were best secured outside the European Union. Furthermore the national congress demanded that the ongoing application for EU membership would be withdrawn immediately.

The same weekend the government's junior coalition partner, the Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) stressed its opposition to joining the EU at its party council congress and furthermore agreed that the EU accession process would be reviewed. A decision whether the party will support a withdrawal of the EU application was postponed until next autumn.

Icelanders want EU application scrapped

2010-06-15T10:18:00.003Z

New public opinion poll was published yesterday showing a large majority of Icelanders in favour of scrapping the ongoing application for membership of the European Union. According to the poll 57.6 percent want the application withdrawn while only 24.3 percent want to proceed with it. If only those in favour or opposed are looked at 70 percent want the application withdrawn entirely.

This is the same percentage that would vote no to EU membership in a referendum according to polls (Iceland will not join the EU unless first accepted in a referendum).

A proposal to a resolution has been put forward in the Icelandic parliament to withdraw the EU application backed by MPs from all the political parties represented in the parliament except one, the social democrats.

Sources:
Iceland to Win EU Backing to Start Talks, Draft Says (Bloomberg.com June 14, 2010)
Meirihluti vill draga umsókn um aðild til baka (Mbl.is June 14, 2010)
Tæp 60% vilja draga aðildarumsókn að ESB til baka (Vísir.is June 14, 2010)
Flestir vilja afturkalla ESB umsókn (Ruv.is June 14,2010)

MPs want EU application withdrawn

2010-06-12T19:28:00.001Z

A proposal for a resolution will be put forward on Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, this weekend that the application for membership of the European Union should be withdrawn. It is initiated by Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, MP for the conservative Independence Party, and supported by a large group of MPs from various political parties represented in the parliament.

The Icelandic parliament narrowly accepted the EU application in July 2009. Some 33 MPs supported the application while 28 voted against it. Two MPs abstained. However, there is no majority for EU membership in the Icelandic parliament and has never been.

Many of the socialist MPs that voted in favour of the application were - and still are - against membership of the EU. But they supported the application to be able to form the current government with the pro-EU social democrats, the only pro-EU party in Iceland.

However, due to a extremely busy schedule of the parliament (dozens of large issues are on its schedule before its recession for the summer on next Tuesday and only few are bound to be addressed in time) it is not certain if the proposal will be voted on this time.

According to the latest public opinion poll in March this year 70 percent of Icelanders would vote against EU membership. An internet poll in May by the Icelandic radio station Bylgjan resulted in 75 percent saying the EU application should be withdrawn.

Source:
Umsókn um aðild að Evrópusambandinu verði dregin til baka (Mbl.is June 12, 2010)

Who is responsible for the Icelandic EU application?

2010-05-25T23:15:00.003Z

Apparantly no one is willing to shoulder the responsibility for the Icelandic application for membership of the European Union. Today representatives from Heimssýn, the Icelandic organisation opposed to EU membership, met with Romanian MEP Christian Dan Preda explaining to him that Icelanders simply have no interest in becoming members. Preda emphasised that the application was not the decision of the EU but the Icelandic government when told that the best thing to do was to put the whole thing on ice.

Predas comments cannot be understood otherwise than as an attempt to wash his and the EUs hands of responsibility for the application. Similar comments were made by EU representatives to the media last autumn when opinion polls in Iceland were showing an increased opposititon among Icelanders to EU membership. According to the results or the latest one published at the beginning of March this year as much as 70 percent of Icelanders would reject membership in a referendum.

While the EU points the finger at the Icelandic government claiming it solely responsible for the application the social democrat Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson insists he is only executing the decision of the Icelandic parliament. Still everybody knows that it was his government that pushed the application through the parliament a year ago with a narrow majority. Within the government the junior coalition partner, the Left Greens, then points the finger at the senior partner the Social Democratic Alliance.

The Icelandic government's EU application has become such a mess that no one wants to be responisble for it and everyone points the finger at someone else.

Source:
Enginn vill bera ábyrgð á ESB-umsókninni (Heimssyn.is May 25, 2010)

Cast no shadow on Iceland's national holiday, thank you

2010-05-21T16:53:00.010Z

The Sports and leisure council of the City of Reykjavík (ÍTR) today issued a resolution requesting the Icelandic government to see to it that a formal decision will not be taken on next June 17 to start accession negotiations with the European Union. On that day Icelanders celebrate their national holiday but on June 17, 1944 Iceland became an independent country. The European Council will hold its next meeting that same day and a decision on negotiations may be taken there. The resolution reads as following:

"The request is directed to the government of Iceland to see to it that a shadow will not be cast on celebrations of the national holiday of Icelanders with a decision to start accession negotiations between Iceland and the European Union on that day. This is a delicate issue and it should be pointed out that the majority of the Icelandic people are opposed to EU membership."

The ÍTR is a politically appointed council with representatives from all the political parties in Iceland and among other things responsible for the June 17 celebration in Reykjavík. Five out of six representatives supported the resolution. Only one rejected it, a representative from the ruling Social Democratic Alliance which is the only political party in Iceland that supports EU membership. The other representative of the social democrats in the ÍTR, however, initiated the resolution.

This is yet another token of how little support joining the EU has in Iceland. According to the last poll in Iceland 70 percent would reject membership in a referendum.

Source:
Varpi ekki skugga á 17. júní (Mbl.is May 21, 2010)

Withdraw the EU application say 75 percent

2010-05-09T17:13:00.003Z

In an internet poll produced by the Icelandic radio station Bylgjan on May 6 some 75 percent said they wanted Iceland's application for membership of the European Union to be withdrawn. Of those 62 percent wanted the application to be withdrawn completely while 13 percent wanted it to be withdrawn and postponed. Only 25 percent said they were opposed to the idea of withdrawing the application.

Source:
Bylgjan

The EU application has no support in Iceland

2010-04-17T12:27:00.007Z

Bjarni Benediktsson, the chairman of the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), said at a meeting today with fellow partymembers that the current left-wing government had proven unable to advance its application for membership of the European Union. He said the government was stuck in a vicious circle when it came to the EU issue which it couldn't get out of.

Benediktsson, who's party leads the opposition, criticised the government for spending enourmous time, manpower and money on the application for EU membership despite the fact that the issue has no political leadership and doesn't have the support of the Icelandic people. Furthermore, he said there was no majority for membership in the Icelandic parliament and not even within the government itself.

Source:
Bjarni vill að landsfundi verði flýtt (Vísir.is April 17, 2010)

Further reading:
Does Iceland want to join the EU?
How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?

The Social Democratic Alliance split in three on the EU issue

2010-04-12T13:14:00.007Z

Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir and Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson have both dismissed the comments from Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, former FM and chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), that it would perhaps be better to postpone Iceland's EU application in the light of the Icelandic people's massive opposition to membership. Sigurðardóttir, the current chairman of the social democrats, said she was not as pessimistic as her predecessor.

What the comments by Gísladóttir, however, reveal is that the Social Democratic Alliance, Iceland's only pro-EU party, is totally split on the EU issue (former FM Gísladóttir represents a certain wing within the party), but now not only between those who want to join and those who don't want to (between 20-30 percent of the voters of the party usually reject membership according to the polls). Now the supporthers of EU membership within the party are also split in two, those who want to proceed with the present application and those who think it would be better to postpone the whole issue.

Source:
Fráleitt að fresta viðræðum við ESB (Vísir.is April 10, 2010)

Former FM: No one is fighting for EU membership in Iceland

2010-04-09T09:33:00.000Z

Former Foreign Minister of Iceland, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, said to the German journalist Clemens Bomdorf yesterday (April 8) that no one was really fighting for membership of the European Union in Iceland any longer. Membership would probably be rejected in a referendum and it was therefore even better to postpone the EU application rather than to continue the process in total uncertainty.

Gísladóttir is one of the most outspoken supporters of EU membership in Iceland and former chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance, the only political party in Iceland that favours membership. With these comments she joins a growing number of EU supporters in Iceland that have openly aired their worries about the EU application and predicted that it will be rejected by the Icelandic people.

Sources:
Betra að fresta ESB-viðræðum en halda þeim áfram í óvissu (Mbl.is April 9, 2010)
Stolz und Vorurteil (Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir 3) (Highnorth.wordpress.com April 8, 2010)

70 percent of Icelanders would reject EU membership

2010-03-23T11:00:00.004Z

The newest opinion poll in Iceland on membership of the European Union published earlier this month suggests that about 70 percent of Icelanders would vote no if a referendum was held now, up more than 8 percent since September 2009. Of those 51 percent were absolutely certain they would reject membership. At the same time only about 30 percent said they would vote yes.

The same poll also asked if people were in favour of EU membership with 60 percent saying they were not and only 24.4 percent saying they were. If those undecided are excluded the outcome is pretty much the same as in the referendum question mentioned above.

The vast majority in all social groups are opposed to EU membership whether with regard to sex, age, education, income, residense, or political affiliation with only one exception, the majority of the voters of the social democrats favour membership.

Source:
The results of the Capacent poll

Does Iceland want to join the EU?

2010-03-08T12:33:00.000Z

There were no celebrations in the streets of Reykjavík or elsewhere in Iceland when the European Commission announced on 24 February that it would recommend membership negotiations with the country. This really shouldn't come as a surprise in the light of the fact that Icelanders don't want to join the EU and probably never have.

According to the most recent public opinion poll in Iceland by Capacent, 56 percent are opposed to EU membership, up six percent since last September, while just 33 percent are in favour. Furthermore, the September poll showed a majority displeased with the government's EU application delivered last summer.

Read the full article

New poll on EU membership in Iceland

2010-02-28T22:07:00.002Z

New poll in Iceland on the attitude of the Icelandic people towards EU membership produced by Capacent for the Farmers Association of Iceland and published today (February 28). The results are as follows:

33.2 percent in favour of EU membership (thereof 9.4 percent totally in favour, 7.2 percent very much in favour and 16.6 percent rather in favour).

56 percent opposed to EU membership (thereof 28.4 percent totally opposed, 11.3 percent very much opposed and 16.3 percent rather opposed).

26.8 percent trust the Icelandic government to defend the interests of the Icelandic people in Iceland's accession process to the EU.

58 percent do not trust the Icelandic government to defend the interests of the Icelandic people in Iceland's accession process to the EU.

A total of 1.173 people were polled with 68.7 percent participating.

This is in line with previous polls.

Sources:
Aðeins þriðjungur hlynntur ESB-aðild (Vísir.is February 28, 2010)
Meirihlutinn á móti ESB-aðild (Mbl.is February 28, 2010)

Icelandic companies say no to the EU

2010-02-15T14:03:00.001Z

New poll which was released in Iceland today shows that about 60 percent of the leading people of Icelandic companies believe that Iceland is better placed economically outside the EU. Only 31 percent think the country would be better placed within it. This is in line with the last polls on the attitude of Icelanders in general towards EU membership.

Certain people in the Icelandic business community have been among the most powerful lobbyists for EU membership in recent years. A year ago a similar poll showed a totally different attitude towards the EU by the majority of the leading people of Icelandic companies. So this is seen a big news and yet another shock for the Icelandic pro-EU side.

Ruling Left-Greens confirm EU opposition

2010-01-17T09:16:00.002Z

The party council of the Icelandic political party The Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) yesterday (January 16) confirmed the party's opposition to Iceland joining the European Union.

The Left Greens have since the foundation of the party been opposed to joining the EU but decided not to oppose an application being sent to Brussels after the general election in the spring of 2009 in order to form a government with the pro-EU Social Democratic Alliance. Since opposition to the joining the EU has grown rapidly among Icelanders with about two thirds against the move according to the latest polls. The EU application, which was only narrowly approved in the Icelandic parliament in July 2009, has also been very unpopular within the LGM. The party council is the highest authority of the LGM between national congresses.

The party council's statement reads:

"The party council confirms the opposition of the Left Green Movement to possible membership of Iceland of the European Union. Despite an application for membership has been delivered it is the outmost will of the party council that Iceland shall remain an independent state outside the EU. The party council of the Left Green Movement urges ministers, MPs and members of the Left Greens across the country to honour the party's policy to oppose membership of the EU and to fight hard for it."

This is seen as yet another token of the split between the government parties on the EU issue.

Source:
The LGM party council's statement

See also:
Fisheries Minister: Iceland better off outside the EU
New chairman of the Icelandic No movement
Would have voted against an EU application in opposition
How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?
Former FM says EU membership will probably be rejected
Finance Minister: Icelanders don't want to join the EU

Fisheries Minister: Iceland better off outside the EU

2009-11-26T19:41:00.003Z

Iceland's Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Jón Bjarnason, yesterday gave a speech to an international conference on coastal fisheries in Biarritz in France. At the end of his speech Bjarnason, who voted against his government's application for membership if the European Union this summer, discussed from his point of view the situation of that application and how it came about:

"Last summer the Icelandic Parliament, Althingi, decided, to apply for EU membership. The process has already begun, although nobody knows how much time is needed for the negotiations. The political background is somewhat peculiar. The two parties in government have opposing opinions. While one is for membership, the other my party the Left-greens is rather strongly against it but has agreed to let a national referendum have the final say.

Recent opinion polls in Iceland show a huge majority against membership. Keeping in mind that all the agricultural sector, the farmers and the food industry are against membership, and the same goes for the whole of the fishing industry as my own party the left-greens, it should not surprise anyone that I am not in favor of membership myself.

Iceland is a small island situated in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with just over 300 thousand inhabitants. The foundation of our livelyhood lies in our natural resources; we must maintain sovereignty over our most valued assets, our economy, our culture and our future generations are depending on it. We can enjoy wide-ranging international cooperation without being tied up in the EU framework.

Given these circumstances, it is my firm belief that the future of our country is will be much better off outside European Union than inside."

Source:
Jón Bjarnason's speech

See also:
How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?
Report: Icelandic government to apply for EU membership

New chairman of the Icelandic No movement

2009-11-15T19:59:00.014Z

Heimssýn, the Icelandic broad-political organisation opposed to membership of the European Union, held its national congress today (November 15) and elected a new board. The new chairman is Ásmundur Einar Daðason, MP for the Left Green Movement.

Ragnar Arnalds, former Finance Minister, stepped down as chairman after holding the post for the past seven years or since Heimssýn was founded in June 2002. Arnalds will nevertheless continue to stay on the board as a regular board member.

The Left Greens are in government with their senior coalition partner the Social Democratic Alliance. When the government applied for EU membership in July this summer Daðason was among four other Left Green MPs who voted against the application.

Source:
Ásmundur Einar nýr formaður Heimssýnar (Mbl.is November 15, 2009)

See also:
How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?
Report: Icelandic government to apply for EU membership

Would have voted against an EU application in opposition

2009-11-14T08:04:00.006Z

Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon and chairman of the junior coalition partner in the Icelandic government, the Left Green Movement, said in a recent interview with the website Balinn.blog.is (published on August 21) that if he had been in opposition and thus not in the government he would probably have voted against applying for membership of the European Union this summer instead of voting in favour.

Sigfússon's Left Greens are opposed to EU membership according to their platform but the leadership decided to give in and support applying in order to stay in government with the pro-EU Social Democratic Alliance. The social democrats had made it an absolute condition for a renewed coalition after the general elections last spring that an application for EU membership would be sent to Brussels.

However, Sigfússon recently admitted that despite the application being delivered by his government it was nevertheless obvious that the Icelandic people did not want to join the EU. The latest opinion polls have suggested that a vast majority opposes EU membership with the last one from Capacent published on November 5 putting the margins at 54 percent against and only 29 percent in favour.

The interview on YouTube (in Icelandic)

See also:
How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?
Report: Icelandic government to apply for EU membership

Iceland wants full authority over its fishing grounds

2009-11-12T07:18:00.004Z

The Icelandic negotiation team for the upcoming membership negotiations with the European Union has been appointed led by Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson, Iceland's ambassador in Brussels. The chief negotiator for fisheries, Kolbeinn Árnason, said today (November 12) to the state radio RÚV that emphasis would be put on Iceland keeping full authority over its fishing grounds.

Source:
Ísland haldi stjórn á fiskveiðum (Rúv.is November 12, 2009)

How serious is Iceland about joining the EU?

2009-11-11T10:45:00.002Z

Speculations whether the Icelandic government’s application for membership of the European Union is really serious are quite understandable. The government is totally split on the issue, the Icelandic parliament only voted narrowly in favour of the application this summer and the people are utterly opposing it. The step is completely premature with all the wrong circumstances at hand.

Even in the light of the economic difficulties Iceland is facing at the moment, and which have been used to the outmost by the pro-EU side to try to get Icelanders to change their minds about the EU, the opposition to membership has on the contrary been growing fast according to the polls. The Icelandic people are simply not being convinced that the EU is a solution to their problems and besides the price for joining is simply seen as way too great.

The political situation
Nothing has really changed in Iceland in the political attitute towards the EU. There is still as before only one political party which can be defined as pro-EU, the ruling Social Democratic Alliance. There is also far from being a sufficient support for EU membership in the polls. According to the latest one the vast majority of Icelanders oppose joining the EU by 54 percent against 29. And the majority is also unhappy with the membership application.

The sole reason why the social democrats managed to get an EU application through is that the leadership of their junior coalition partner, the Left Green Movement which is opposed to EU membership according to its platform, decided to support the step only to be able to form a government with them. Otherwise there would simply not have been any EU application. This was merely a horse bargaining between the government parties.

Split government
The result of all this is a government torn apart over this issue – and others. One of its ministers voted against the EU application in the parliament in July, Jón Bjarnason the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, along with four other Left Green MPs (out of total 14 Left Green MPs). The leadership of the Left Green Movement has furthermore publicly assumed every right to oppose a final membership agreement with the EU and even to withdraw the application at any time.

The leader of the Left Greens, Finance Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, summed up the situation quite well at the recent Nordic Council’s 61st Session in Stockholm when he said that even though his government had applied for EU membership the Icelandic people nevertheless didn’t want to join. In other words there is a huge gap – or more precise a huge canyon – between the Icelandic government and its people on the EU issue.

Desperation
Those Icelanders who favour joining the EU have been waiting for years for the right environment for an EU application without success. So when Iceland was hit by the economic crisis a year ago they thought this opportunity had finally arrived, not the least since the polls became very favourable for them at first. But at the beginning of this year the polls again became unfavourable for their cause and have been increasingly since.

The latest token of the growing pro-EU desperation in Iceland is a ridiculous and at the same time laughable attempt to draw up a picture of Icelanders as xenophobes, and especially their opponents in the No camp, and claiming it the reason for the opposition to joining the EU. Despite for example the fact that opposition to membership has always had a tendency to grow when there has been a significantly increased debate in Iceland on the issue.

Growing pessimism
This all has led to growing pessimism among leading people in the pro-EU camp. Recently a former Foreign Minister of Iceland, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, said that he thought the Icelandic people would reject joining the EU in a referendum. Hannibalsson, who was a Foreign Minister when Iceland joined the European Economic Area in 1994, has for many years been one of the most outspoken supporters of Icelandic EU membership.

Another prominent figure on the pro-EU side, scholar Eiríkur Bergmann Einarsson, said addressing a public meeting at the end of September that he thought Iceland wouldn’t join the EU in the forseeable future. If the Icelandic people would say yes to membership it would be due to temporary insanity, at any ordinary day they would say no. Einarsson’s assumption is probably quite correct.

Norway all over again
Iceland’s neighbour to the east, Norway, has twice applied for EU membership and on both occasions rejected it in a referendum. According to various news reports there are growing worries in Brussels that the Icelandic application will meet the same fate. Which must be seen as quite understandable. After all Icelanders clearly don’t want to join the EU and probably never have.

So the question the leaders of the EU obviously must ask themselves is whether or not they are eager to repeat their Norwegian experience?

New poll showing majority against EU membership

2009-11-05T21:49:00.013Z

One more opinion poll showing majority of Icelanders opposed to joining the European Union was published today (November 5). According to the poll 54 percent of Icelanders now oppose membership while only 29 percent favour the step. 17 percent are uncertain. If those uncertain are excluded 65 percent are opposed to EU membership and 35 percent in favour.

This is the third poll in a row showing an absolute majority against EU membership. Here are the results of the three polls on the question if Iceland should join the EU or not including this one.

August 4:   No 48,5 percent   Yes 34,7 percent
September 15:   No 50,2 percent   Yes 32,7 percent
November 5:   No 54 percent   Yes 29 percent

The poll was carried out by the Research Center of Bifröst University for the TV channel Stöð 2 between September 26 and October 4. Some 859 people were polled and 65 percent responded.

Source:
Könnun: ESB yrði kolfellt í kosningum (Vísir.is November 5, 2009)

Related stories:
Never as much opposition to EU membership in Iceland
Majority of Icelanders against EU membership

Icelanders don't trust the EU

2009-11-02T09:59:00.002Z

The majority of Icelanders has very little trust for the European Union according to a new opinion poll published on Saturday (October 31) by Capacent. Only about 26 percent have much trust for the EU with 44 percent who have little trust for it. The rest, or 30 percent, are undecided.

Source:
Mikill meirihluti Íslendinga treystir ekki AGS (Amx.is October 31, 2009)

Former FM says EU membership will probably be rejected

2009-11-01T00:02:00.006Z

A former Foreign Minister of Iceland, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, said at a meeting held at the University of Reykjavík on Friday (October 30) that he thought the Icelandic people would probably reject membership of the European Union in a referendum. This he contributed among other things to a poor political leadership by which he was obviously referring to the current government in Iceland.

This is seen as quite interesting since Hannibalsson has for years been one of the most outspoken supporters of Icelandic joining the EU. The former Foreign Minister is, however, far from being the only leading supporter of EU membership in Iceland who has recently aired pessimism that Iceland will actually join the EU at the end of the ongoing accession process.

Source:
Jón Baldvin: ESB-aðild sennilega hafnað (Amx.is October 31, 2009)

Icelandic government gives answers to EU questions

2009-10-31T22:15:00.003Z

The Icelandic government has delivered its answers to a total of 2,500 questions about Iceland, its economy, politics and society in general to the European Union. The answers are a part of the Iceland's accession process. The government was in a great hurry to deliver the answers and denied a popular demand in Iceland that the questions and the answers to them would be translated into Icelandic so all Icelanders could examine them regardsless of knowledge in languages. The questions and answers were in English but according to critics not in any ordinary English but a kind of a Brussels-beaurocratic version of it.

The government had previously promised that the whole acession process would be transparent and the Icelandic people would be kept informed about every step of it. This is not seen by critics as a good start. It might be mentioned that among those who called for an Icelandic translation of the questions and the answers were organisations of both those in favour of EU membership and those who reject it

Finance Minister: Icelanders don't want to join the EU

2009-10-29T00:05:00.005Z

Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Iceland's Minister of Finance and chairman of the junior coalition partner the Left Green Movement, said on Tuesday (October 27) at the Nordic Council’s 61st Session in Stockholm that although his government had applied to join the European Union the Icelandic people didn't want to become members. Sigfússon was responding to a question directed to him about the situation of Iceland's EU application.

Source:
Spurð um afstöðu Íslands til ESB (Ríkisútvarpið October 27, 2009)

Majority of Icelanders don't want the euro or the EU

2009-10-25T23:43:00.012Z

The majority of Icelanders don't want to adopt the euro or join the European Union according to the results of a new opinion poll published yesterday (October 24). The poll was produced by the company Miðlun for the news website Pressan.is. The question asked was: "What currency arrangement do you think would best suit Iceland?" Some 55 percent wanted a policy which does not involve EU membership.

Only 24 percent said they though Iceland should adopt the euro by first joining the EU. However, 26 percent said they thought it was best for Iceland to keep its own currency, the króna. Some 29 percent said Iceland should adopt a foreign currency unilaterally, of those only 9 percent wanted the euro. Finally 21 percent were undecided.

If the undecided are excluded some 70 percent of Icelanders do not want to adopt the euro by joining the EU. Only about 30 percent are in favour of that. Even if the 9 percent who want the euro unilaterally are put together with those who want the single currency by first joining the EU it only slightly alters the picture.

On September 15 the results of a poll produced by Capacent for the Federation of Icelandic Industries were published in Iceland showing some 50 percent of Icelanders opposed to joining the EU and 33 percent in favour. The new poll for Pressan.is suggests opposition to EU membership has grown since.

The opinion poll for Pressan.is was carried out September 29 - October 15 and a total of 760 people were polled.

Sources:
Mjög skiptar skoðanir um gengisfyrirkomulag - fjórðungur vill halda krónunni (Pressan.is October 24, 2009)
Fleiri andvígir en hlynntir ESB-aðild (Morgunblaðið September 15, 2009)

Growing worries in Brussels?

2009-10-08T09:53:00.003Z

The Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið reports today (October 8) that according to its sources there are growing worries in Brussels that the Icelandic application for membership of the European Union delivered this summer will meet the same fate as the Norwegian applications. Norway has twice applied to join the EU, in 1972 and again in 1994, but membership was on both occasion rejected in a referendum.

Hostility in Iceland towards EU membership has probably never been as much as now. This can both be seen from the public debate in the country as well as in repeated opinion polls over the last several months. According to Morgunblaðið the EU has people stationed in Iceland with the task of translating everything concerning the debate on the application which has led to these growing worries.

Why are Icelanders unhappy with the EU application?

2009-09-30T09:34:00.005Z

The results of the last opinion poll produced in Iceland on the attitute towards membership of the European Union not only showed a large majority against joining the EU but also a majority unhappy with the application for membership the Icelandic government issued in July.

This probably came as a surprise to many people since earlier polls had shown a large majority for membership talks with the EU. However, at the same time polls were usually showing a majority opposed to an EU membership application.

This simply supports what those against EU membership in Iceland have been claiming for years that the majority of Icelanders don't want a formal EU application but some kind of an informal scouting talks just to see exactly what the EU has to offer.

So in short the Icelandic people don't support the government's EU application. No wonder that we have never before seen as much opposition to EU membership in the polls.

Never as much opposition to EU membership in Iceland

2009-09-15T23:28:00.006Z

A new opinion poll was published today (September 15) in Iceland showing more opposition to membership of the European Union than has ever been seen before. The poll was produced by Capacent Gallup for the Federation of Icelandic Industries but its leadership favours joining the EU.

According to the poll 43.2 percent of Icelanders are unhappy with the EU application the Icelandic government delivered in July after it was being accepted narrowly by the Althing, the Icelandic parliament. 39.6 percent are happy with the application.

More than half of Icelanders, or 50.2 percent, are opposed to joining the EU while 32.7 percent favour the step. In another poll by Capacent Gallup published in August where the same question was asked 48.5 percent were against EU membership and 34.7 percent were in favour.

Finally 61.5 percent said they would vote against EU membership if a referendum was held now, 38.5 percent said they would vote in favour. Of those 38.6 percent said they would definitely vote against but only 16.1% said they would definitely vote in favour.

The poll was produced from August 25 to September 10, 1649 people were polled and 52.3 percent participated.

Sources:
Fleiri andvígir en hlynntir ESB-aðild (Morgunblaðið September 15, 2009)
Andstaðan við aðild að ESB er í hámarki (Vísir.is September 15, 2009)
Andstaða við Evrópusambandsaðild í hámarki (Amx.is September 15, 2009)

Majority of Icelanders against EU membership

2009-08-04T15:08:00.003Z

The results of a new poll in Iceland produced by Capacent Gallup for the think-tank Andriki shows a majority of Icelanders opposed to a membership of the European Union. Some 48.5 percent are opposed to EU membership and 34.7 percent are in favour. 16.7 percent remain undecided.

Measuring only those in favour or against some 58.3 percent oppose EU membership while 41.7 percent favour the step.

Last poll on Icelander's attitute towards EU membership was published in the beginning of May this year also by Capacent Gallup for the state radio Ríkisútvarpið showing 38.6 percent in against and 39 percent in favour.

This means that the No side has gained 10 percent since the beginning of May while the Yes side has lost more than 4 percent.

Sources:
Andríki August 4, 2009
Fleiri andvígir aðild að ESB og vilja þjóðaratkvæðagreiðslu (Morgunblaðið August 4, 2009)
Mikill meirihluti vill viðræður (Ríkisútvarpið May 5, 2009)

Has Iceland really adopted two-thirds of EU legislation?

2009-07-31T15:55:00.002Z

Since the end of last year it has been repeatedly claimed in foreign media that Iceland has adopted at least two-thirds of all the legislation of the European Union through the country's membership of the European Economic Area (EEA). Among those who have said this is Olli Rehn, the EU's commissioner for enlargement, for example to the AFP news agency at the beginning of February.

Until a few years ago, certain Icelanders in favour of joining the European Union on a regular basis claimed the same, that Iceland was adopting 70 and even up to 90 percent of EU laws through the EEA agreement. This claim was repeatedly put forward without being founded on any studies at all.

In the spring of 2005 research carried out by the EFTA [European Free Trade Association] secretariat in Brussels at the request of the Icelandic foreign ministry, however, revealed that only 6.5 percent of all EU legislation was subjected to the EEA agreement between 1994 (when it came into force) and 2004.

In March 2007 a report published by a special committee on Europe commissioned by the Icelandic prime minister, showed that some 2,500 pieces of EU legislation had been adopted in Iceland during the first decade of the EEA agreement. The study also found that about 22 percent of Icelandic laws passed by the parliament originated from the EU during the same period of time.

The totality of EU legislation is according to various sources around 25,000 to 30,000 legal acts. Total Icelandic laws and regulations, however, are around 5,000. Of those there are less than 1,000 laws, the rest is regulations. Even if the entire legislation of Iceland came from the EU it would only be around 20 percent of the total acquis communautaire.

So how is it possible to reach the conclusion that Iceland has already adopted "at least two-thirds of European legislation"?

Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson

(Previously published on Euobserver.com)

What have the polls been saying in Iceland?

2009-07-23T17:40:00.019Z

Since the beginning of this year the results of most opinion polls in Iceland have been unfavourable for those who want the country to become a part of the European Union. However, it has become quite obvious that it depends which questions are being asked. Let us take a look at how the polls have behaved through the years including this one:

Polls asking if people wanted to start membership talks (aðildarviðræður) with the EU have almost always resulted in a majority in favour.

Polls asking if people wanted to apply for membership (umsókn um aðild) of the EU have almost always resulted in a majority against.

Polls asking if people wanted to join the EU have usually resulted in a 50/50 situation.

The first two examples obviously contradict each other. But this has an explanation. For years people in favour of EU membership have claimed it was possible to enter some kind of a non-obligational "scouting talks" with the EU just to find out what kind of a deal Iceland would be able to get.

Many people in Iceland find the EU issue very complicated so there has been much interest in these kinds of talks. But at the same time people are opposed to a formal application for EU membership. This explaines the contradicting results of polls asking about starting membership talks and applying for membership.

Those in favour of EU membership have always pointed to the polls asking for membership talks as a token of the alledged support in Iceland for applying for membership. But when everything is taken into the picture it must be assumed that there is simply no majority in Iceland for either applying for EU membership or joining the EU.

The Icelandic government, which is led by the only pro-EU political party in Iceland (The Social Democratic Alliance), opposed a proposal to put the application for EU membership to the people in a referendum. The obvious reason is because the government knew applying for membership would be rejected.

However, Icelanders will get a referendum on whether to actually join the EU or not when the accession talks are over.

Report: Icelandic government to apply for EU membership

2009-07-17T14:47:00.010Z

Yesterday was a black day in Iceland when the Icelandic parliament narrowly voted in favour of a proposal allowing the government to apply for membership of the European Union. The vote was very close and the issue had been debated heavily for a number of days in the parliament. 33 MPs said yes, 28 said no, and two did not vote. A proposal from the opposition that the decision to apply would be a subject to a special referendum was rejected narrowly with 32 votes against 30. The government (backed by most of its MPs) opposed that proposal strongly which suggests it simply does not believe that the people are in favour of this step.

Five government MPs rejected the proposal, all from the junior coalition partner The Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) which is according to its policy strongly opposed to EU membership. Eight of the party's MPs voted in favour and one did not vote. Seven of these eight are nevertheless opposed to membership but voted in favour in order to secure a continued coalition government with the pro-EU Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin). A number of them gave a short speech in the parliament before voting where they claimed their strong oppostion to EU membership while drawing up a very negative picture of the union.

The voting in the parliament:

The Social Democratic Alliance (social democrats): Yes 20, No 0, Abstain 0.
The Independence Party (conservatives/liberals): Yes 1, No 14, Abstain 1.
The Left Green Movement (socialists/greens): Yes 8, No 5, Abstain 1.
The Progressive Party (centrists/agrarians): Yes 3, No 6, Abstain 0.
The Civilian Movement: Yes 1, No 3, Abstain 0.

Total: Yes 33, No 28, Abstain 2.

Much of the debate prior to the vote, both in the parliament and among the people, were about the fact that the Left Greent Movement was according to its policy strongly opposed to EU membership which meant that it did not have any permission from its voters to take part in applying for EU membership. Last general elections in Iceland took place on April 25 this year. Many associations within the party from various parts of the country prior to the vote protested the party leadership's support along with many of the party's ordinary members and voters. Political speculators in Iceland have been suggesting this could lead to some serious internal problems within the party.

The government had to count on the support from few MPs in the oppostion to get its proposal through. One of the government minister even said no, the minister for agriculture and fisheries, who comes from the Left Green Movement. In addition the leader of the Left Green Movement said yesterday to the Icelandic media that his party assumed every right to stop the accession talks at any time if it believes the EU is not meeting its demands. According to the government's proposal the Left Green Movement has also assumed the right to oppose a possible final accession treaty. Whether or not the party will actually do either this is yet another token of how half-heartedly it is on the issue to say the very least. This all simply means the government is very broken on this issue.

The government has already as of this morning formally announced the application to both the Swedish EU Presidency and the European Commission. The formal application is expected to be put forward at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on July 27. Accession talks are expected to begin in February 2010 given the application will be accepted and a possible date of accession according to the government is January 1, 2013 which means a referendum could take place in 2012. However, this whole process could take place sooner depending on the speed and progress of the accession talks.

The last opinion poll in Iceland by Gallup showed a 50/50 situation regarding the question whether people wanted to join the EU or not.

Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson

EU membership would not have saved Iceland

2009-06-22T16:48:00.005Z

Iceland's former Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, said in a lecture at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin, Ireland, that he did not believe membership of the European Union would have saved Iceland from the "financial hurricane" which triggered the country's financial meltdown last autumn and the collapse of its three biggest banks, noting EU membership had not saved Latvia's economy from shrinking an expected 18 percent this year. Furthermore he pointed out that the Irish economy was expected to shrink between 10.75 and 12 percent this year while the expected percentage in the case of Iceland was 10 percent.

Sources:
Haarde in Dublin: Ireland worse than Iceland (Icenews.is June 22, 2009)
Irish GDP will shrink faster than Iceland's, says ex-PM (Independent.ie June 19, 2009)

EU membership talks considered a low priority

2009-06-02T23:33:00.006Z

Entering membership negotiations with the European Union is not considered urgent by Icelanders according to the results of a new poll by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn, the Icelandic No movement. Majority of those who take a stand believes that the government should make such negotiations either a low priority or a very low priority.

Only 42 percent believe it urgent to enter membership negotiations with the EU with only 22 percent seeing that as a high priority. On the other hand 44 percent think it should be a little or very little priority to start such negotiations with 32 percent claiming the latter.

At the same time an overwhelming majority says it is more important to solve the financial problems of Icelandic households, or 95 percent, and Icelandic companies, 92 percent.

The poll was carried out May 20-27 and 1284 people were polled.

A rather peculiar situation in Iceland

2009-05-27T16:58:00.009Z

The new center-left government in Iceland, formed by the Left Green Movement and the Social Democratic Alliance, has come under heavy criticism for opening up the EU issue half-heartedly. The proposal to apply for EU membership, that has now been put to the parliament, has also been much criticised for being a very badly performed work. Not the least by the Progressive Party whom the pro-EU social democrats have counted on to get the proposal through since they cannot count on the MPs of the traditionally eurosceptic Left Green Movement for support. A number of Left Green Movement MPs have already announced publicly that they will not back the proposal which means the social democrats will need all the support they can get from the opposition.

On top of all this both the government parties claim the right to fight against a possible membership agreement according to the proposal. So this whole issue is quite peculiar to say the least and based on very fragile foundations. The social democrats are hoping to send an application to Brussels before July this summer but that may easily turn out to be very optimistic. The issue will most certainly be debated heavily in the coming weeks both in the parliament and outside it. That debate could quite easily take a very long time. On top of that it is far from being certain that the parliament will eventually vote in favour of the proposal whenever the voting will take place.

New government to propose membership talks with the EU

2009-05-11T10:56:00.004Z

The new center-left government of Iceland has agreed that the foreign minister will put a proposal to the parliament after it rejoines on May 15 that an application for membership of the European Union will be sent to Brussels this summer. Before July according to the government's plans. The government, however, is completely split on the issue with the Social Democratic Alliance strongly in favour of membership but the junion colatition partner, the Left Green Movement, opposing the idea. Whether the parliament will accept the proposal is unclear.

New EU poll in Iceland

2009-05-07T13:26:00.006Z

The results of a new poll on the attitute of Icelanders towards membership of the European Union were presented yesterday evening. The poll was produced by Capacent Gallup for the state television RÚV and showed 61 percent in favour of starting membership talks with the EU and 27 percent against. However, according to the poll Icelanders are split evenly in their attitute towards EU membership itself with 39 percent both in favour and against.

Majority of the voters of all the political parties represented in the Icelandic parliament except for the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) are in favour of membership talks with the EU. At the same time majority of the voters of all the political parties except the Social Demcratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) are opposed to membership as such.

There has been a debate in Iceland since yesterday that it obviously depends which question is being asked. Polls where people have been asked if they supported starting membership talks with the EU have usually showed majority in favour of that. However, polls asking if people wish to apply for EU membership have showed majority against doing that, like polls this year for the Icelandic daily Fréttablaðið.

If Iceland would decide to start membership talks with the EU it would first have to apply for EU membership. That is the first step. But it seems many people in Iceland don't realise this and think that it is possible to just start talks with the EU to see what is in the package, to get to the bottom of the issue once and for all as some have phrased it, without any commitments. Of course this is not the case.

Source:
Mikill meirihluti vill viðræður (Rúv.is 06/05/09)

The Citizen's Movement says the EU issue is not a priority

2009-04-30T20:49:00.020Z

The Citizen's Movement (Borgarahreyfingin), which got four seats in the Icelandic parliament in the general elections that took place on last Saturday, has announced that whether or not Iceland should join the European Union is not a priority issue. Urgent issues regarding aid for Icelandic homes and companies as a result of the economic situation however are.

The Citizen's Movement emerged from the protests in Reykjavík last winter. In the same announcement it stresses that those protests had nothing to do with the EU but the collapse of the Icelandic bank sector and lack of actions from the authorities. This is seen as quite important news in Iceland since the Citizen's Movement has been described in foreign as well as some domestic media as being in favour of EU membership.

Meanwhile the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) and the Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) are still negotiating a new government and according to latest news it may even take another week to get results. The EU issue is by far the toughest matter to discuss according to the Icelandic media but the two parties have entirely different approach to the question whether Iceland should join the EU or not.

Source:
Lýsa áhyggjum af foringjastjórnmálum (Mbl.is 30/04/09)
Býst við viku í viðbót í viðræður (Rúv.is 30/04/09)

Related:
The results of the Icelandic general elections
No pro-EU protests in Iceland

Report: The results of the Icelandic general elections

2009-04-26T08:40:00.033Z

by Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson

The results of the general elections in Iceland yesterday are not a success for those who want the country to become a member of the European Union. At least not the success they were hoping for. The only party that has the policy of joining the EU and put emphasis on that in the election campaign, the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), got 30 percent of the votes (20 MPs) which is similar to what the party has got in previous elections. In 1999 it got 27 percent, in 2003 31 percent and in 2007 again 27 percent. In other words the results are at best a defending victory for the party.

The Social Democratic Alliance can form a government with majority in the parliament with both the Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð) (34 MPs) or the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) together with the Citizen's Movement (Borgarahreyfingin) (33 MPs) apart from the possibility to form a renewed government with the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) (36 MPs) which will probabaly not happen due to the current unpopularity of that party. But both the other forms of government are, however, very likely to mean tough and difficult talks for the social democrats.

The party increasing its votes the most is the Left Green Movement as was expected. It got 21.5 percent and 14 MPs compared with 14 percent in 2007. The party rejects EU membership. The conservative Independence Party, which also is opposed to EU membership but has been mainly blamed for last year's collapse of most of the Icelandic banking sector, got 24 percent and 16 MPs. The two parties that thus reject joining the EU the most got together 45.5 percent and 30 of the the total 63 seats in the parliament compared with the Social Democratic Alliance's 20.

The remaining 13 seats are spread between the Progressive Party and the Citizen's Movement. The former got 9 seats and the latter 4. Neither of them is in favour of EU membership but the Progressive Party favours membership negotiations according to its platform if certain very strict conditions will be met, one of them being that Iceland will hold full authority over Icelandic fishing grounds. Something the EU will understandably never be able to accept. As a result the party is generally not seen as being in favour of EU membership.

The Citizen's Movement, however, has no policy in favour of joining the EU. It has a policy that all agreements with other countries that involve transfer of sovereignty shall be put to a referendum and also that Iceland should seek to negotiate monetary cooperation with other countries or, if necessary, adopt a foreign currency unilaterally. One of the party's major policies is also that of not signing any agreement concerning the so-called Icesave issue before a research by independent experts has been carried out on what the duties of the Icelandic government are regarding that.

The Citizen's Movement emerged from the protests in Reykjavík last winter and its platform has many radical policies that the Social Democratic Alliance could find very hard to agree on. The biggest demand of the people protesting was increased direct democracy (referendums) and that the people should be more involved in the decision making process in the country. Naturally joining the EU would not be a step in that direction but rather further away.

What kind of a government will take power in Iceland after the elections is expected to become clear in the next few days and also how that government will approach the EU issue. The most likely coalition is between the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement.

The Icelandic constitution will not be altered

2009-04-18T11:41:00.015Z

The Icelandic government's intention to alter the constitution so it could be more easily amended in the future did not succeed due to resistence from the Independence Party. Today to alter the constitution it has to be approved by two parliaments. This means that to do that a government must step down and hold general elections.

The current center-left government's intention was to change this procedure so altering the constitution would be possible by putting it to a referendum and without the government having to step down. The idea was to change this alongside the general elections on April 25 but now this will not be possible until the next elections after that.

From the point of view of the social democrats, the senior government partner, these changes were seen as making it easier to get Iceland into the European Union since the Icelandic constitution does not allow the transfer of national sovereignty to EU institutions such membership would requires.

The junior government partner, the Left Green Movement which opposes EU membership, however, saw this as making the constitution changing procedure more democratic.

Source:
Flóknara að ganga í ESB (Mbl.is 17/04/09)

Claims the social democrats are isolated on the EU issue

2009-04-14T06:39:00.006Z

Jón Bjarnason, an MP for the Left Green Movement, said yesterday on his website that the Social Democratic Alliance is getting isolated in the party's support for membership of the European Union. Bjarnason referred among other things to the results of the latest poll showing a continued majority of Icelanders against membership. Unlike the social democrats the Left Green Movement is firmly against the idea of joining the EU.

General elections are scheduled in Iceland on April 25. The most likely outcome is a continued center-left coalition government by the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement.

Source:
Segir Samfylkinguna að einangrast í ESB-umræðunni (Mbl.is 13/04/09)

Further information:
The Left Green Movement
The Social Democratic Alliance

Says the EU is not a product to sell in Iceland

2009-04-13T18:42:00.013Z

Jónas Kristjánsson, a former newspaper editor in Iceland and a huge supporter of EU membership for many years, wrote on his blog yesterday that the European Union was simply not a product to sell in Iceland and that the EU was further away from ordinary people today than ever. Those comments came in the wake of the results of the latest poll in Iceland showing continued opposition to EU membership by the majority of Icelanders.

„The popularity of the European Union [in Iceland] is not improving. People don't even want negotiations on membership, not to mention membership itself. The EU is not a product to sell. I have for a long time favoured membership, mainly because it is better to be on the inside than out in the cold. When I began to recommend membership some 15 years ago I hoped that the EU would soon get better. That voter's influence would increase and the EU would move closer to the people. That has not happened. The EU is further from the people than ever before. Its beaurocrats have completely failed to wrap it into an attractive package. They get a zero in public relations,“ Kristjánsson said.

Source:
Fá núll í almannatengslum (Jónas.is 12/04/09)

Still a majority against EU membership negotiations in Iceland

2009-04-11T14:49:00.005Z

There is still a majority against applying for EU membership and starting membership negotiations among Icelanders according to the results of a new poll for the Icelandic daily Fréttablaðið published today. 54,4% are now opposed to applying while 45,6% are in favour.

This is a slightly less support for sending an application to Brussels than a month ago when 46,6% favoured that step. A month ago 53,9% were opposed to applying for EU membership.

The poll was conducted on April 7. 800 people were polled, 77,5% responded to the question asked which was: "Should Iceland apply for membership of the European Union?"

Three polls have been produced for Fréttablaðið this year on whether or not to apply for EU membership and all have shown a majority against taking that step.

Source:
Fækkar heldur sem styðja viðræður (Fréttablaðið 11/04/09)

Report: Iceland and the European Union

2009-04-11T10:07:00.012Z

by Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson

Introduction
Iceland has never applied for membership of the European Union. The debate has so far never gone further than just debating the issue. Iceland’s relations with the EU are mainly based on the EEA Agreement between the EU and the EFTA (which Iceland is a member of along with Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The last country is, however, not a members of the EEA ) which grants Iceland full access to the EU’s Single Market and at the same time obliges the country to adopt EU laws concerning it. Iceland is also a member of the Schengen borderless zone.

It is a widely used explanation that the fisheries are more or less the sole reason why Icelanders have choosen to stay out of the EU. The fisheries are surely extremely important to Iceland and the biggest pillar of its economy. However, the main reason is without doubt the independence and sovereignty. Which includes naturally the sovereignty over Iceland’s natural resources. The history of Iceland is regarded as a textbook example of how national independence and progress are entwined. How important it is for nations to be able to control their own destiny and be able to secure their own interests themselves.

The history
The public attitute towards EU membership has through the years been divided in two with almost as much support for either side according to opinion polls. At times the yes side has been few percents ahead and at others the no side has had an advance. On few limited occasions, however, either side has gained significantly more support. EU membership has never become an election issue in Iceland and as a rule increased debate on the issue has lead to increased opposition in opinion polls. In recent years only one political party represented in the Icelandic parliament, the Althing, has favoured membership negotiations with the EU.

For the past years there have been five political parties represended in the Althing:

The Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) – conservative/liberal/libertarian
The Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) – social democrat
The Left Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð) – socialist/green
The Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) – centrist/liberal
The Liberal Party (Frjálslyndi flokkurinn) – social liberal

The Independence Party was founded in 1929 through the merger of two center-right parties and has always been opposed to membership of the EU and its forerunners. The party was along with the Social Democratic Party (today a part of the Social Democratic Alliance) mainly responsible for Iceland’s membership of the EEA Agreement. The Independence Party has traditionally been Iceland’s biggest party gaining from 35-40 percent of the votes. In the last general elections in 2007 it got 37 percent. However, the party has been widely blamed for the banking collapse due to the fact until January it had been in government constantly since 1991. As a result according to the last poll by Gallup on April 2 the party has 25 percent.

The Social Democratic Alliance was founded in 2000 through the merger of four older left of center political parties. It has since 2002 been in favour of EU membership negotiations after a postal vote was conducted among party members. The party has received around 30 percent in general elections. In the elections in 2007 it got 27 percent. According to the last poll it has 29 percent.

The Left Green Movement was founded in 1999 and has from the beginning been opposed to EU membership. The party was founded by people who for ideological reasons opposed the idea of merging the whole Icelandic center-left into one single party which later became the Social Democratic Alliance. The Left Green Movement has received around 10 percent in general elections. In the elections in 2007, however, it got 14 percent. According to the last poll it has 28 percent.

The Progressive Party was founded in 1916 and is thus Iceland’s oldest political party still in existence. It was originally founded as a agrarian party but as increasing number of people moved from the countryside to towns and villages during the 20th century the party redefined itself as a centrist party while still holding strong ties with the countryside. The party was opposed to EU membership but in later years its policy has become one of observing the issue mainly as an attempt to reconcile different opinions among its members. The Progressive Party has traditionally had around 15-20 percent of the votes in general elections. In the elections in 2007 the party got 12 percent. According to the latest poll it has 11 percent.

The Liberal Party was founded in 1998 mainly to oppose the Icelandic fishing system which the party sees as unjustful. The party has always rejected EU membership mainly on the grounds of opposition to the Common Fisheries Policy. The Liberal Party has been the smallest of the five parties represented in the parliament in recent years. It has received around 5-10 percent in general elections. In the elections in 2007 the party got 7 percent. According to the latest poll it has about 1.5 percent.

Recent events
In the wake of the collapse of almost all the Icelandic banking sector in October 2008 a public panic emerged which among other things revealed itself in increased support for EU membership according to polls. There was a certain demand for a safe harbour and the yes side systematically portraited the EU as being one. There was also a certain panic among the politicians with some of them, who previously had opposed EU membership, starting to say that perhaps a referendum should be held on the issue. The leadership of the Independence Party decided in November to advance its national congress and hold it at the end of January 2009 among other things to review its position on EU membership.

This decision by the Independence Party’s leadership was widely seen as an attempt to pacify the then coalition partner in government the Social Democratic Alliance which had after the banks collapsed put an increased emphasis on EU membership and even threatened to break up the government if the Independence Party did not change its policy on the EU. The Independence Party’s leadership also formed a special committee within the party with the task of researching what EU membership would mean for Iceland and to provide a platform for the party’s members to voice their opinions. The committe held many meetings which showed clearly that vast majority of party members opposed EU membership.

However, before the Independence Party’s national congress could be held the Social Democratic Alliance left the government and formed a minority government with the Left Green Movement and with the support of the Progressive Party which will be in power until the election on April 25. As a result of this the leadership of the Independence Party decided to move the national congress to the end of March. In the beginning of the year 2009 the public attitute towards EU membership changed completely according to repeated polls with a majority opposed to EU membership.

Results of national congresses
The Independence Party eventually held its national congress on March 26-29. The party reaffirmed its previous policy that EU membership was not in the interests of the Icelandic people. The congress stated that a review of its postion towards EU membership had not led to a changed policy. The congress also stated that the issue should be put to a referendum if it would be addressed at some point in the future.

The Social Democratic Alliance held its national congres March 27-29. The party reaffirmed its previous policy that Iceland should apply for EU membership and start membership negotiations. The party leadership said it would put special emphasis on EU membership, both during the elections campaign and if the party will participate in forming a new government after the elections.

The Left Green Movement held its national congress March 20-22 where its previous opposition to EU membership was confirmed. The party also stated that if the issue would be addressed at any time in the future it should be put to a referendum.

The Progressive Party held its national congress in mid January accepting a changed policy towards EU membership. The party is now in favour of starting membership negotiations with the EU. However, the congress also agreed on certain strict conditions to be fulfilled for the party to support membership. Among them full authority over Icelandic natural resources including the fishing resource. A new chairman was also elected at the congress who has said that negotiations with the EU are not relevant until after the Icelandic economy has recovered. Addressing the issue while the economy is in tough times is simply not sensible.

The Liberal Party held its national congress on March 13-14 where its previous policy opposed to EU membership was confirmed. The party had conducted a mail vote among party members in December 2008 asking if Iceland should seek EU membership or not resulting in 52 percent against and 35 percent in favour.

Conclusion
The campaign before the general elections on April 25 will for obvious reasons be very short. At this point nothing indicates EU membership will be an issue now more than in previous general elections in Iceland. The short campaigning will probably constribute additionally to this since others issues are likely, as before, to be seen as much more important to address. However, the Social Democratic Alliance has as mentioned before claimed it will put special emphasis on EU membership, both during the elections campaign and if the party will participate in forming a new government after the elections. The problem the social democrats are facing is therefore with whom they are going to apply for EU membership?

Icelandic companies split over EU membership

2008-12-15T15:16:00.002Z

The Confederation of Icelandic Employers, the umbrella organisation of all Icelandic companies, are split in two over the EU. The leadership of the CIE has been growing more and more EU oriented in the last weeks and months but ths CIE itself has never had any official policy towards the EU. Instead it has been left to the member organisations to form their own policy towards the issue. There have been very mixed opinions with the fisheries firmly opposed, the leadership of the industry very much in favour and everything there between. The leadership of the CIE has very much wanted to use it in favour of EU membership and therefore organised a special vote among all the companies which are members of its members organisations.

The vote was carried out November 24 - December 5. The results were that 43% want the CIE to promote EU membership while 40% do not support that move. 17% did not take a postion. Note that the size of the companies was taken into the picture, that is how much voting weigh it has inside the organisation it is a member of which is determined by its size. And notabene this is not a poll but a vote among all the member companies. The question put to them was this: "Does your company want the CIE to work towards an Icelandic membership of the EU and the adoption of euro as the currency of Iceland?" The possibilities were yes, no and does not take a position.

The results for the fisheries were extremely negative, 94-97% of companies in the fishery sector did not favour the CIE to work towards EU membership. At the same time it was very interesting that 41% of industry companies did not favour such move either while 52% did. The leadership of the industry has long been very pro-EU. But that organisation is obvioulsy also very split on the issue. Even during hard times like these. There has been some discussion lately in Iceland why these results have not been published before by the CIE. Obviously because this vote was supposed to give the CIE a reason to work towards EU membership but of course these results certainly will not.

No split in the Icelandic Independence Party or change in policy towards the EU

2008-10-31T11:41:00.012Z

Some foreign media including the Financial Times have been suggesting that there is now a split in the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) towards EU membership since its vice chairman and Minister of Education, Þorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, has said membership needed to be debated rather within weeks than months.

The fact is, however, that this is nothing new. Gunnarsdottir has aired these views before, like last spring, but did not get a very warm hug from the people in the party for doing that. After all the policy of the Independence Party is very clear in its opposition to EU membership. Gunnarsdottir is as a result as good as isolated in the party leadership with her views.

There are simply no signs of a split in the Independence Party over the EU or that its policy on the issue will be changed. The party is on the contrary as before firm in its opposition to EU membership.

Iceland Trade Minister has been pro-EU for many years

2008-10-28T14:12:00.010Z

Some foreign media, including Bloomberg and AP, have recently reported that the Icelandic government may be changing its position towards membership of the European Union (EU) and then quoted either the Icelandic Minister of Trade, Bjorgvin G. Sigurdsson, or the Foreign Minister, Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir. The fact is, however, that both of them have favoured EU membership for many years and both of them represent the Socialdemocratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) which is as before the only political party in Iceland in favour of starting membership negotiations with the EU.

The social democrats are the junior coalition partner of the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) in the Icelandic government. Prime Minister Geir Haarde earlier this week underlined that the policy of his government has not changed and is as before that EU membership is not on the agenda. The task ahead is to restore the Icelandic economy he said and the right time for a debate whether or not Iceland should apply for EU membership is not during the reconstruction.

Iceland PM: EU membership as before not on the agenda

2008-10-28T14:11:00.018Z

At a press meeting on Tuesday October 27 in the Finnish capital of Helsinki Iceland's Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, underlined his government's policy that membership of the European Union is not on the agenda. The task ahead is to restore the Icelandic economy he said and the right time for a debate whether or not Iceland should apply for EU membership is not during the reconstruction.

No pro-EU protests in Iceland

2008-10-28T14:11:00.017Z

Some foreign media have reported that a protest meeting, that took place in Reykjavik on last Saturday (October 25), had among other things called for Iceland to immediately begin membership negotiations with the European Union. No Icelandic media, however, reported that the protesters called for EU membership and the press release, which the leaders of the protests sent to the media prior to them, did not mention such a demand one word. According to the media and the press release the aim was to protest the economic situation. Also the protesters claimed that the government was not giving enough information to the public about what was going on. In other words the purpose of these protests were not to call for EU membership.

Iceland's Fisheries Minister still firm on his opposition to EU membership

2008-10-28T14:09:00.015Z

Some foreign media, including the Euobserver.com and the Irish Times, claimed few days ago that the Icelandic Fisheries Minister, Einar K. Gudfinnsson, had changed his position towards membership of the European Union (EU) from being a firm opponent to saying it was one of the options that had to be looked into. This was claimed to be based on the reportings of Iceland's state radio (RUV).

The truth, however, is that Gudfinnsson never said he was open for EU membership. What he said was simply taken out of context in the foreign media. According to the website of RUV Gudfinnsson said all options regarding getting foreign loans had to be considered. In the news story it is then stressed that Gudfinnsson is as before firmly opposed to EU membership.

The title of RUV's news story is in fact "Ministers disagree on the EU" referring to the fact that Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Sólrun Gisladottir has for many years been in favour of EU membership while Gudfinnsson opposes it.

Gisladottir is chairman of the junior coalition parter in the Icelandic government. Her party, the Socialdemocratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), is the only political party in Iceland which favours EU membership negotiations. However, the senior coalition partner, the conservative Independence Party (Gudfinnsson's party), is opposed to EU membership.

The position of the Icelandic government has not changed since the banking crisis in Iceland started in the beginning of October. Its policy is as before that EU membership is not on the agenda.

Chances of a pro-EU government in Iceland keep decreasing

2006-08-24T13:00:00.000Z

It seems as if a similar situation is developing in Iceland as in Norway. That is, we either can have a center-right government (The Independence Party and the Progressive Party) or a center-left government (The Social Democratic Alliance, the Left Green Movement and the Liberal Party). That the voters will be faced with only those two possibilities of government. Neither form will put EU membership on the agenda since the social democrats are the only party in favour of membership negotiations with the EU.

After the Progressive Party's national congress last weekend the chances decreased very much that the Social Democratic Alliance will be interested in forming a government with the party since the new leadership is more center-right than center-left and thus likely to seek continued cooperation with the Independence Party after the general elections in May next year. The new leadership is also more eurosceptic than the previous one.

The leadership of the Social Democratic Alliance now says that the party will focus on trying to form a center-left government with the Left Green Movement and the Liberal Party after the elections if the parties will get a majority in the parliament. That this will be its first choice. In any case the Independence Party, having the Prime Minister now, will have the first chance to form a government and will most likely look first to continued cooperation with the Progressive Party.

So chances of a pro-EU government in Iceland just keep decreasing, especially after Halldór Ásgrímsson left politics. He tried for years to raise the issue, both within his own party and outside it, but without any results. In his parting speech at the party's national congress he again stressed that Iceland should look more to the EU and called for a debate on whether Iceland should join the EU or not. Still the party accepted a resolution stating that the EEA Agreement is suiting Iceland fine and that everything suggests it will continue to do so in the years to come.

The pro-EUs in the party made no attempt this time, like at the previous national congress, to have the party accept a pro-EU policy. After all they had to retreat completely at the previous one. It is also very likely that that attempt was planned by Ásgrímsson himself although he obviously didin't want his involvement to be official.

EU membership question not on the agenda for years to come

2006-08-20T14:42:00.000Z

A new chairman was elected at the Progressive Party's national congress this weekend. The new chairman, Jón Sigurðsson former Central Bank president and newly appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce, takes over from Halldór Ásgrímsson who decided this summer to retire from politics after more than three decades in the front line.

Sigurðsson said after the results were in that the question, whether Iceland should join the European Union or not, would not be on the agenda for years to come which marks a certain turn from the policies of the former chairman who has repeatedly called for a national debate on the issue.

Guðni Ágústsson, Minister of Agriculture and who rejects EU membership, was re-elected as vice chairman. Siv Friðleifsdóttir, Minister of Health who vied with Sigurðsson for the chairmanship, said there was no hurry discussing whether Iceland should join the EU or not. Jónína Bjartmarz, Minister of Social Affairs, said the future evolution of the EU was unclear and had to be monitored.

Sigurðsson furthermore announced at the congress his intention to put a special emphasis on promoting solidarity among party members, but no issue has created more rift in the party as the EU question. Huge opposition to EU memberhip exists within the party explaining the new chairman's decision to put the whole question on ice.

The congress' resolution on the EU states that the EEA Agreement secures Iceland's interests well and that everything suggests it will continue to do so in the forseeable future.

EU Membership Not Too Important For Social Democrats

2006-08-05T21:24:00.000Z

The chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, said in an interview with the Icelandic TV station NFS on Wednesday August 2 that the party was prepared to put its policy, that Iceland should enter membership negotiations with the European Union, aside in order to be able to participate in a coalition government after the next general election due in May next year (2007).

The Social Democratic Alliance is the only political party in Iceland which favours entering membership negotiations with the EU. All other parties reject the idea.

Iceland PM Says He Lacks Support For EU Entry Talks

2006-06-02T16:22:00.000Z

Iceland's Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson has been trying initiate a national debate on entry into the European Union, but says he lacks political backing at home to start the process. His government, political allies and even his own party don't support his call for a national debate on the topic. Opponents are concerned about loss of independence, fishing rights, and over-regulation. "Iceland is not prepared politically to take such a step," he told Dow Jones Newswires. "It is quite clear this is not on the agenda of the present government."

Nor are there signs that future governments would embrace the project, barring major political shift. Even after Iceland's recent financial turmoil, which might have been less violent inside the euro zone, hasn't changed many minds. Most of Iceland's political community remains unpersuaded that being inside the E.U. and adopting the euro would bring more prosperity and financial security. They say belonging to the European Economic Area, which grants access to E.U. markets, is enough.

"We are not supporting Iceland's participation in the euro zone or the European Union," said Birgir Armannsson, member of parliament for the Independence Party, Asgrimsson's coalition partner and the largest grouping in parliament. "Joining the E.U. would increase regulation in many aspects of society. We support the internal market, but we are not keen on further relationship with the E.U.," he said.

Another obstacle is the touchy issue of ceding fishing rights, a problem even for proponents of E.U. and euro membership. Giving up exclusive rights to its waters is something Iceland isn't prepared to do, say politicians from both sides of the discussion.

Read the whole Dow Jones' article

Iceland Will Not Adopt the Euro

2006-05-01T17:21:00.000Z

Rumours are circulating in some European countries that Iceland may be about to adopt the euro. The rumours have been picked up by some foreign media such as the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende as well as the Financial Times. These rumours are, however, totally unfounded.

Certainly, there has been some ongoing discussion in Iceland about whether adopting the euro could perhaps be better for the Icelandic economy than its own independent currency, the króna. And of course there are those who insist that membership of the European Union and the euro are the solutions to everything, without being able to put forward any tenable arguments. The latter, however, only constitute a minority group. Most economic experts have concluded that having the euro as Iceland’s official currency would most likely be far less beneficial for Iceland’s economy than keeping the króna.

Earlier this year, in the course of this debate, there was also a short-lived discussion in Iceland that perhaps it might be possible to adopt the euro without first joining the EU itself. However, those discussions have now subsided after the EU confirmed previous statements by a number of leading experts in this field that this is not possible. Quite remarkably, both the Pro-EU movement in Iceland and Heimssýn, the no movement, agree on that. Even Iceland’s Pro-EU Prime Minister, Halldór Ásgrímsson, has said that suggesting this is possible only makes the EU debate in Iceland more complex.

Out of the question
The official policy of the Icelandic center-right government, a coalition of the centrist Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) and the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), is that EU membership is out of the question and so is adopting the euro – even if it were possible to adopt it without EU membership. However, Iceland has a pro-EU Prime Minister who also chairs the Progressive Party. Although PM Ásgrímsson has neither the backing of his government nor of his own party he nevertheless tries to speak as positive about the EU as he can. As a result his comments every now and then spark incorrect presumptions outside Iceland.

The Socialdemocratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) is the sole Icelandic political party in favour of entering membership negotiations with the EU. However, its leaders have said that Icelandic EU membership is not a realistic option as long as the Independence Party remains opposed. The Independence Party has about 42% of the votes according to latest polls and has furthermore traditionally been by far the largest party in Iceland for more than half a century.

The chairman of the Independence Party and Foreign Minister, Geir H. Haarde, said in an official visit to Sweden in February that he believes Iceland will not join the EU in the forseeable future. His comments were a response to Ásgrímsson’s earlier prediction that Iceland will have joined the bloc by 2015. Ásgrímsson’s sole argument for his prediction is his own assertion that by this time Sweden, Denmark and the UK will all have adopted the euro and Norway will have joined the EU!

During his visit to Sweden Haarde told journalists that he disagreed with the Prime Minister: “I do not share that point of view. Our policy is not to join in the foreseeable future. We are not even exploring membership.” In a speech at a conference at the University of Iceland on March 31, Haarde repeated what he has said on a number of previous occasions: that no particular Icelandic interests require membership of the EU. On a number of occasions Haarde has also explained in detail why it would not be in Iceland’s interest to adopt the euro.

Different economic requirements
In short, the economies of Iceland and the EU are very different in nature. Economic fluctuations in Iceland do not follow the same cycle as those in the major economies of the euro zone. The rate of the euro and the interest rate policy of the European Central Bank reflect conditions in the major economies of the euro zone and not conditions as they are in Iceland. The Icelandic economy is frequently in a different phase to the major EU countries and as a consequence Iceland has completely different requirements in economic management than the larger countries of the euro zone, not least when it comes to interest rates.

If Iceland was a member of the EU, and thus the euro zone, the interest rate in Iceland would almost inevitably be contrary to the requirements of our monetary policy. Iceland has experienced strong economic growth for many years and it has needed to respond to inflationary pressures in the economy by raising interest rates. It is indeed highly unlikely that economic growth for instance in Germany would be stymied in order to keep the spectre of inflation at bay in Iceland.

Far from Iceland adopting the euro or joining the EU, as some have obviously been speculating, it is more likely that Norway will join the EU and Sweden, Denmark and the UK will adopt the euro. None of this, however, is likely to happen in the forseeable future or ever at all.

(Previously published on the Brussels Journal aswell as on the EUobserver in a slightly different version)

From a speech by Foreign Minister Haarde at the University of Iceland March 31, 2006

2006-04-08T14:49:00.000Z

When Iceland, back in the early 1990s, opted for the EEA as a long term basis for its relations with the Union, it was because EU membership presented serious problems. The single most important argument made against joining related to the Common Fisheries Policy. The disadvantages of membership were generally considered so obvious that the decision to stay outside the EU hardly caused any political controversy here at that time although membership in the EEA was a major bone of political contention back in 1992 and ‘93. So, by the way, was EFTA membership in 1970. Today the EEA is not a politically contested issue in this country. Membership in the EU is not and has never really been a serious issue in the political debate in Iceland. Some people seem to think, however, that it might be possible to put negotiations with the EU “to the test”, as it is frased, meaning that we should ask for membership negotiations just to see what the outcome might be. One assumption behind this way of thinking is that Iceland would be able to obtain permanent exemptions, in particular from the Common Fisheries Policy. This is simply not correct.

To begin with, the main principle in accession negotiations with the EU is that permanent exemptions are not granted from its policies. The basic rule of the Common Fisheries Policy is that major fisheries management decisions are made not by member countries but by EU institutions. Should Iceland join the EU, regulatory powers in the field of fisheries move irretrievably to Brussels. Even if the fisheries commissioner would be an Icelandic national he or she would be bound by the principles of the common policy.

This whole idea is obviously unacceptable to Iceland.

In membership negotiations with Iceland, the EU would most likely make demands for access to Icelandic waters for fishing vessels from Member States. The principle of freedom of establishment could easily lead to the so called “quota hopping” problem, which would give EU fishing companies access through the back door to Icelandic waters.

The problem is not merely that key decisions would be transferred to Brussels, nor that other EU countries’ fleets would enter our waters aided by the phenomenon of “quota hopping”. Just as important is the fact that the entire operating environment for fisheries within the EU is completely different from that in Iceland. In the EU, fisheries are largely regarded as a branch of regional development. Iceland, however, has no alternative but to operate its fisheries as a sustainable business sector.

A further consequence of membership would - due to a number of factors, including our standard of living and high national income - be that Icelanders would pay many billions of krónur more into the EU´s coffers than they would receive.

There are those who say that the Icelandic public would still gain as the price of food would go down should Iceland enter the EU. But we need not join for such purpose - and pay as a consequence huge amounts of money into EU funds - since we obviously have our own means, if we so choose, to reduce taxes, tariffs and other protective import restrictions on various agricultural products. That will in any case most probably happen through WTO arrangements.

It is also maintained that the admittedly high interest rates here would go down with membership of the EU and the Euro. There is, of course, no question that a small economy has to pay a certain price for keeping an independent currency. Interest rates have always been higher in Iceland than in most of the EU, for example. But Iceland has also experienced stronger economic growth than most EU countries, with very little unemployment.

If Iceland were a member of the eurozone, the interest rate here would almost inevitably be contrary to the requirements of our monetary policy. We have had strong economic growth for many years and we have needed to respond to inflationary pressures in the economy by raising interest rates. It is indeed unlikely, to say the least, that economic growth would be stymied in Germany, for instance, in order to keep the spectre of inflation at bay in Iceland.

Iceland´s exports of goods are not particularly diversified and are still dominated by fisheries products. This structural characteristic of our economy would make monetary union particularly risky. The exchange rate of the euro would obviously never be influenced by what might be happening in the Icelandic economy. It is, of course, too small for that.

We would face severe problems if, for example, our fisheries sector underwent a downswing at the same time as an economic upswing was taking place in the bigger countries in Europe. The euro would strengthen at the same time as the Icelandic economy was weakening and in need of a weaker, not stronger, currency. It is not difficult to imagine the consequences of such a scenario for us.

More problems would thus be created than solved. The challenge for us is to keep our own economic affairs in order rather than look for panaceas within the EU. If we succeed in that, economic stability will be ensured.

Source:
The Foreign Ministry

From a speech by Foreign Minister Haarde in Berlin March 29, 2006

2006-04-02T14:46:00.000Z

With respect to the EU and EFTA, I know it is of some curiosity here in Germany, whether Iceland has plans to join the European Union. We follow developments within the EU very closely after all the EU is by far our biggest trading partner, and some of our closest friends are members. We wish the EU well and want to see it succeed inits endeavours. Indeed, I would say that the EU is one of the major contributors to peace both in our region and world wide. However, there are no pressing reasons for Iceland to join the Union; indeed, there are certain matters, such as the EUs common fisheries policy, which would make joining very problematic.

The very different nature of our economies would also present major obstacles. Economic fluctuations in Iceland do not follow the same cycle as those in the major economies of the euro zone. Therate of the euro and the interest rate policy of the European Central Bank reflect conditions in the major economies of the euro zone and not conditions as they are in Iceland. The Icelandic economy is frequently in a different phase to the major EU countries. Thus Iceland has completely different requirements in economic management than the larger countries of the euro zone, not least in matters of interest rates.

Source:
The Foreign Ministry

Majority against applying for EU membership in Iceland

2006-02-21T18:29:00.000Z

According to a new public opinion poll in Iceland 42,3 percent of Icelanders are now opposed to applying for membership of the European Union (EU) while 34,3 percent are in favour. 23 percent had not made up their minds. The poll was produced on February 18 by the Icelandic newspaper Fréttablaðið with a sample of 800 people, and hence produced ten days after the Icelandic Prime Minister, Halldór Ásgrímsson, said in a speech at a commerce conference in Reykjavik that he predicted Iceland would have become a memberstate of the EU by 2015. The Icelandic people therefore don’t seem to agree with Mr Ásgrímsson. If only those, who said either their favoured EU membership application or were opposed to it, are taken into the picture 55 percent are opposed while 45% are in favour.

The question asked was: "Should Iceland apply for membership of the European Union?" 98,1 percent of the people in the sample participated. This is the first poll in Iceland on the attitute of Icelanders towards EU membership since August last year when according to a poll by Gallup 43 percent were in favour of joining the EU while 37 percent were opposed. This time, however, a different question was asked; that is whether to apply for EU membership but not just whether to join the Union.

Press articles:
Fréttablaðið
Morgunblaðið
EUobserver.com

Iceland won't join EU in the foreseeable future

2006-02-19T04:38:00.000Z

Icelandic Foreign Minister Geir H. Haarde said last Monday that Iceland would not join the European Union in the foreseeable future. Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrimsson had commented earlier this month that he thought Iceland would join the bloc by 2015, but Mr Haarde disagrees. "I don't share that point of view," he told journalists after a meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Laila Freivalds. "Our policy is not to join in the foreseeable future. We are not even exploring membership," he said.

Haarde, who heads his country's Independence Party, said it was "normal" that he should have policy differences with Asgrimsson, who is head of the Progressive Party. Haarde, who served as finance minister before taking over the foreign affairs portfolio in September 2005, has argued that Iceland's economic profile did not make it desirable to join the EU, although the country is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA).

He argues that EEA membership already gives Iceland 90 percent of the benefits of joining the 25-nation European Union. Some three-quarters of Iceland's gross domestic product is based on fishing, but even the island's pro-EU politicians do not want to relinquish control over that sector to Brussels.

Neither would Iceland benefit from the EU's common agriculture policy, which provides lucrative farming subsidies, Haarde has argued. Ásgrimsson has said he is in favour of Icelandic EU membership if a solution could be found to allow the country to manage its fisheries itself.

Ásgrimsson's Progress Party is the country's third-largest party with 12 seats in parliament, while Haarde's Independence Party is the biggest party with 22, ahead of the Social Democratic Alliance with 20.

Press article:
EUbusiness

Prime Minister Ásgrímsson as good as alone in his predictions

2006-02-14T04:38:00.000Z

As expected almost no one in Iceland came out in support of the comments made by Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Icelandic Prime Minister, last week that he predicted Iceland would be a member of the European Union by 2015. On the contrary the comments were hevily critizised by people from all parts of the society not the least from a number of people in the government. As a consequence the discussions about Mr Ásgrímsson comments are over. After all everyone in Iceland knows he has no backing and that an Icelandic EU membership is highly unlike to ever taking place.

Mr Ásgrímsson's wishful thinking

2006-02-08T16:36:00.000Z

Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Icelandic Prime Minister, said today in a speech at a commerce conference hosted by the Icelandic Chamber of Commerce (ICC) that he believed Iceland will be a member of the EU by 2015. The conference's topic was Iceland in the year 2015. Mr Ásgrímsson said the most important factor in that regard will be the future and size of the eurozone. Therefore he said it is very important whether Denmark, Sweden and the UK decide to adopt the euro or not. He stressed, however, that Iceland was not on its way into the EU in the forseeable future. The debate in Iceland is not yet "mature enough" according to him and the necessary political circumstances are also missing.

Leaders of the conservative Independence Party, the coalition partner of Mr Ásgrímsson's Progressive Party, have today stressed that as before they do not agree with the Prime Minister on the EU. EU membership is as before not seen as a favourable option for Iceland. The chairman of the Independence Party and Foreign Minister, Geir H. Haarde, said to the Icelandic media that he did not see a reason to react whenever Mr Ásgrímsson expressed himself on EU issues. It was a known fact that the Independence Party disagreed with the Prime Minister on the EU.

In other words Mr Ásgrímsson speaking positively about the EU is nothing new since he is pro-EU himself. Meanwhile, not only his coalition partner in government disagrees with him, he also doesn't have the support of his own party which he admitted today. In other words he is free to believe what he wants according to his own wishful thinking, but it doesn't make it a fact. He simply hasn't got the necessary backing, far from it.

According to the last poll in Iceland on the following of the Icelandic political parties the Independence Party has 44,7% while the Progressive Party only has 9,6%.

Press article:
Morgunblaðið

Better Out than In

2006-01-20T01:30:00.000Z

Geir H. Haarde, the Icelandic Foreign Minister, met with his British colleague Jack Straw in London yesterday. During the meeting the two discussed the relationship between Iceland and the United Kingdom, the European Union and some other international issues. After the meeting Mr Haarde said it was especially interesting to hear that Mr Straw agreed with him that no special Icelandic interests required that Iceland join the EU. According to Mr Haarde, Mr Straw agreed that Icelanders were doing very well outside the EU. This is of course nothing new for Icelanders, but it is always nice to hear others confirm it. The funny thing is that the same Jack Straw on a number of occasions – before the French and the Dutch rejected the EU constitution – warned the British people not to reject the constitution because doing so would mean that Britain would become “isolated and weak in Europe.”

Are we to understand that different principles apply for Britain and Iceland? Of course not. Any country in Europe, or in the world, can do as well as Iceland and even better. But the EU is most definitely not the road to prosperity. Iceland is the wealthiest and most prosperous country in the world today after Norway. The reason for Iceland’s success is its independence, which has made it possible for the country to introduce radical economic reforms towards a liberalized economy, something which would never have been possible had the country been a member of the EU.

(Previously published in the Brussels Journal)

Straw admits Iceland has no special interests in joining the EU

2006-01-18T22:46:00.000Z

Geir H. Haarde, the Icelandic Foreign Minister, met with his British colleague Jack Straw in the Birtish Foreign Ministry today (January 18). During the meeting the two discussed the relationship between Iceland and the United Kingdom, the European Union and various other international issues. Haarde said after the meeting it was especially interesting to hear that Straw agreed with him that no special Icelandic interests demanded that Iceland joined the EU. Haarde said furthermore that Straw said Icelanders were doing very well outside the EU and it was no necessity for Iceland to join the Union. Besides all the cost and the burden membership would mean for the country.

Well, this is of course nothing new for us in Iceland, but it's always nice to hear some top EU people confirm this :)

Source:
Morgunblaðið

One more sign...

2006-01-04T23:37:00.000Z

One more sign of how the European Union is so not an issue in Iceland and is actually always becoming more and more a none-issue here. As a tradition the chairmen of the Icelandic political parties represented in the Icelandic parliament, the Althing, each write a detailed article in the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið on December 31 about the politics in Iceland in the last year. Only two of them so much as mentioned the EU. Geir H. Haarde, chairman of the Independence Party, only mentioned it once and then only in context with the WTO's Doha agenda. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, chairman of the Socialdemocratic Alliance (the only Icelandic political party in favour of joining the EU although it has never dared to put the issue on its agenda), however, mentioned it a few times mainly complaining that there was no political will in Iceland to join the EU. She even went as far as insisting that the EU was something that could not be mentioned in the country. Well, this is not really like that, but it is nevertheless true that the EU is not really the most popular thing among Icelanders ;)

Free trade agreement signed between EFTA and South Korea

2005-12-16T00:00:00.000Z

Ministers from the Member States of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland - signed yesterday a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with the Republic of Korea. The EFTA States are the first European States to sign a free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea, the world's eleventh largest economy and Asia's third largest exporter. The agreement is South Korea's third free trade agreement, following agreements with Chile and Singapore, with which EFTA has FTAs as well.

The whole story:
EFTA

Discussions in the Icelandic parliament about the EU issue

2005-11-25T00:31:00.000Z

Geir H. Haarde, the Icelandic Foreign Minister, gave his report to the Icelandic parliament on October 17. There was a long discussion about foreign affairs in the wake of that. Among other issues discussed was Iceland's relationship with the European Union. A couple of pro-EU MPs said that Iceland should join the EU, or actually only one of them did. The other one just said that this should be looked into but wouldn't say whether she actually favoured EU membership or not. This was, however, met with a broad coalition of MP's from four parties - the Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party (there are only five parties represented in the parliament) all speaking against EU membership. This is the same way things happen everytime the few pro-EU MP's try to raise the EU issue in the Icelandic parliament - the seldom it happens.

Website:
Althingi

Iceland is not on the way into the EU

2005-11-07T00:28:00.000Z

In Iceland we are often told that Norway is on the way into the European Union. We have actually been getting this message for a very long time now – for decades. At the same time we know the people in Norway on regular basis get the message that Iceland is going to join the EU. In both cases, however, it is highly unlikely that either country will become member of the EU in the foreseeable future inspite of the wishful thinking of the Icelandic and Norwegian pro-EU movements. In fact, there hasn’t been any serious EU debate in Iceland for years now with the sole exception of the second half of 2002 and the beginning of 2003 when there was a short debate on the issue before the general elections in the spring of 2003. The result of this debate in the polls was a vast majority against EU membership and therefore the EU question was not raised at all during the election campaign.

Polls in Iceland
It has occurred that opinion polls in Iceland on the EU have a certain tendency. When there is little or no debate on the issue they tend to show those in favour of EU membership leading by few percents. However, once a serious debate starts – the seldom it happens – and all the cards are put on the table this turns around and those opposed to the idea of joining the EU become a majority. This was the case for example concerning the last EU poll in Iceland, published on September 1 by Gallup, where support for EU membership was a bit more than the opposition. After all there is no EU debate in Iceland at the moment. A good example for this is the fact we only have two polls on the issue a year while I understand there are monthly polls in Norway. In comparison we have polls every month on the support for the Icelandic political parties.

According to the poll on September 1 the crisis within the EU, after the French and Dutch rejection of the proposed EU constitution, don’t seem to have had much influence in Iceland unlike for example in Norway. There seems to be only one logical explanation for this. As I said before there hasn’t been any serious debate in Iceland about the EU for years unlike in Norway, as I understand, where there is always a certain ongoing debate on the issue. Therefore as a result what happens within the EU is more likely to affect the public opinion in Norway than in Iceland. The question whether Iceland should join the EU or not is obviously not high on people's list over the most important issues. What happens within the EU is therefore simply something distant to the Icelandic people.

Only one pro-EU party
Although it must be considered highly unlikely that Norway will join the EU in the foreseeable future it is even less likely that Iceland will ever do so. In addition to the nature of EU polls in Iceland we don’t have a pro-EU government nor a pro-EU parliament majority. In fact, only one of the political parties is in favour of joining the EU, the Socialdemocratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), although the party has never actually dared to put the issue on its agenda. The reason being both that the issue is somewhat debated within the party but more importantly the lack of necessary support among the Icelandic people.

All the other political parties in Iceland are opposed to EU membership including the centrist Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) although some people outside Iceland seem to think the party is pro-EU. That is, however, far from being correct. The chairman of the party, the current Prime Minister of Iceland Halldór Ásgrímsson, is indeed pro-EU but the vice-chairman is not and the same goes for vast majority of the members of the party. This became very clear at the party’s biannual general meeting earlier this year where those in favour of joining the EU in the party made several attempts to have membership put on the party’s platform but where forced to withdraw every time. In addition, according to a poll by Gallup the majority of the voters of the party is also opposed to EU membership.

No EU membership in 2007
I understand there have been some speculations in Norway that Iceland may seek EU membership in 2007. This is, however, as good as impossible. The current government, formed by the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and the Progressive Party, will not start negotiations with the EU since the parties are not only both opposed to EU membership but have also an agreement that joining the EU is not on the agenda. The next general elections in Iceland are scheduled in May 2007, but since all but one of the political parties are opposed to EU membership a government in favour of joining the EU taking power in the wake of them is not a possibility.

Davíð Oddsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland and former Prime Minister, announced recently that he intends to leave Icelandic politics. He will step down as an MP and Foreign Minister on September 27 and not seek re-election as chairman of the Independence Party after the party's biannual general meeting in October, a post he has filled ever since 1991. The eurosceptic attitute of the Independence Party has probably been characterised in Oddsson by many outside Iceland. However, it is as good as impossible that his resignation will affect the policy of the party towards the EU in any way since it does not stand and fall with him. Opposition to EU membership is widespread within the party in all ranks of it.

Why should we join??
But what issues are most important to the Icelandic people when it comes to the opposition to EU membership? According to a poll by Gallup these are the fisheries (the public opinion in Iceland is that we must hold full authority over our fisheries and our waters in case of EU membership – something the EU will of course never accept), the loss of sovereignty a membership would entail, and little influence within the EU. Other issues include bureaucracy, overregulation and centralisation within the EU, lack of democracy along with the constant political, economic and social integration. Also polls by Gallup have repeatedly shown a large majority against adopting the euro instead of the Icelandic króna.

So in short there is nothing actually which indicates that Iceland will ever join the EU. The arguments of the pro-EU movement are not based on telling people that joining the EU would be good for Iceland – not anymore – but telling them sooner or later Iceland will be forced to join. Usually the addition follows that this will happen when Norway becomes member of the EU. But the fact is that neither country is likely to join the EU and it’s not difficult to see why. Both countries are doing great outside the EU. The recent United Nations report on living standards and wealth shows Iceland in second place after... Norway. So why should both countries even consider joining the EU?

Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson

(Written in September and published in the Nei til EU's magazine in Norway)

The Left-Green Movement reaffirms its opposition to EU membership

2005-10-27T00:58:00.000Z

The Left-Green Movement reaffirmed its opposition to EU membership at its biannual national crongress on October 21-23.

Website:
The Left-Green Movement

The Independence Party remains utterly opposed to EU membership

2005-10-17T16:26:00.000Z

The biannual national congress of the Independence Party was held this weekend. Davíð Oddsson, the now former chairman of the party, spoke very decisive against EU membership in his opening speech on Thursday. He has often spoken against EU membership through the years but seldom as decisive as now. Oddsson has now decided to leave Icelandic politics after being in the line of fire for three decades. Instead he will become president of the Icelandic Central Bank.

On Saturday the vice-chairman of the Independence Party, Geir Haarde, then expressed the same attitute towards EU membership as Oddsson in a speech at the national congress. Haarde was the only candidate as Oddsson's successor as chairman of the party. Among other things he said in his speech that no Icelandic interests demanded that Iceland joined the EU, but at the same time there were many great disadvantages to membership.

As presumed Haarde was elected as chairman of the party yesterday (October 16). He is the former Minister of Finance but succeded Oddsson as Foreign Minister on September 27. And also as presumed the policy of the Independence Party towards the EU, accepted by the national crogress without any protest or remarks, remains utterly opposed to EU membership. There was actually no chance at all that those results would have been otherwise. The eurosceptic policy of the Independence Party is widespread within the party and does not stand and fall with Oddsson although some people outside Iceland seem to think so. That is, however, definately in many cases more based on wishful thinking than anything else.

On the other hand it is understandable that those who are not familiar with the circumstances within the party have had tendency to characterise its policy towards the EU in Oddsson since he has as chairman of the party, Prime Minister of Iceland for a long time and then Foreign Minister for the last year, been the party's primary spokesman on foreign affairs. After all the Foreign Ministry was in the hands of the Independence Party's junior coalition partner, the Progressive Party, from 1995 until September last year when Oddsson became Foreign Minister.

For those who don't know the conservative/libertarian Independence Party is the biggest political party in Iceland and has been for more than 60 years. The party has been in government now for the last 14 years or since 1991. According to the latest poll by Gallup published in September 44% of Icelanders support the Independence Party.

Sources:
Davíð Oddsson's speech
Geir Haarde's speech
The foreign policy accepted by the national congress

Every other joke!

2005-10-12T16:38:00.000Z

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, the chairman of the Socialdemocratic Alliance (the only political party in Iceland in favour of EU membership although it has never actually dared to put the issue on its agenda), suggested recently that Iceland should join the EU and adopt the euro because of the current high value of the Icelandic króna. The party hasn't mentioned this since in the beginning of the year 2003, just before the general elections that year, after a number of polls were published showing a vast majority of Icelanders opposed to EU membership.

Well, to say the least this is probably seen by most people in Iceland as every other joke! Beside the fact that Icelanders have no special interest in joining the EU according to polls, and especially not adopting the euro, they are also generally well informed about what is happening in the world and are therefore very well aware of how disastrous the economic and political situation is within the EU.

The pro-EU movement in Iceland hasn't even seen a reason to mention the chairman's suggestion on its website. And speaking of that website, it hasn't been updated for six weeks now which is a good example of the eclipse the pro-EU movement in Iceland has actually been suffering from for a long time.

And takling about an eclipse, the European Movement Iceland didn't even remember to celebrate its 10 years anniversary in May this year. How bad is that?? ;)

Website:
European Movement Iceland

Icelandic young conservatives strongly opposed to EU membership as before

2005-10-10T17:46:00.000Z

During its biannual national congress September 30 - October 2 the National Youth Organisation of the Independence Party (Samband ungra sjálfstæðismanna) approved a strong policy against Icelandic EU membership as before. The policy was accepted unanimously and reads as following:

"The National Youth Organisation of the Independence Party reaffirms its former policy towards the European Union. There are no more reasons now than before for Iceland to join the EU. It can be argued strongly that it has seldom or never been as unwise to put EU membership on the agenda as now. The EU is at the moment probably going through the biggest political crisis the Union has ever faced after the French and the Dutch rejections of its proposed constitution. No one knows for sure what those crisis will lead to.

Persistent bad economic situation within the EU, especially in the eurozone, is not to make an EU membership more attractive. It is also obvious that the development within the EU is more and more towards increased integration, centralisation and regulation burden at the cost of among other things transparency and flexibility. It is also clear that Iceland would loose its authority over its waters in case of an EU membership and that no permanent exemptions are available regarding the fisheries.

Instead of joining the EU Iceland should trade on the possibilities it has by remaining outside the Union and nevertheless participate in cooperation between European nations on equal grounds. By remaining outside the EU Iceland has not been harmed in any way. Quite the contrary Iceland has over and over again been doing better than most EU memberstates in international researches on how well countries are doing and in some cases even all of them. Icelanders have every possibility to continue on that road on their own premises."

Website:
National Youth Organisation of the Independence Party

Iceland the 7th most competitive economy in the world

2005-09-29T17:40:00.000Z

According to a new report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) published yesterday (September 28) Iceland is now the seventh most competitive economy in the world. Last year Iceland was number 10 and in 1997 it was number 38. Finland is in first place this year like last year, the United States in the second, Sweden comes third, and Denmark is number four. Then Taiwan, Singapour, and Iceland. After that Switzerland, Norway, and Australia.

Interesting enough, only three EU memberstates make it to top 10. The Netherlands are number 11, the United Kingdom numer 13, and Germany number 15. Estonia is number 20, Austria number 21, and Portugal number 22. Luxemburg is number 25, Ireland number 26, and Spain number 29. Other EU memberstates are lower on the list.

Press article:
EUobserver.com

Website:
The World Economic Forum

No change in policy, says Prime Minister Ásgrímsson

2005-09-28T02:55:00.000Z

Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland and now former Foreign Minister, left the Icelandic government and the Icelandic parliament formally yesterday. Halldór Ásgrímsson, the current PM, said on that occasion that there would be no change in the policy of the government after Oddsson's resignation. This includes the policy that membership of the EU is not on the agenda.

Press article:
Ríkisútvarpið

Related stories:
Oddsson to leave Icelandic politics

The Icelandic state without any foreign debt

2005-09-13T00:35:00.000Z

This summer the Icelandic government privatised the National Telephone Company and part of the amount the government got for it will be used to pay up the foreign debts of the Icelandic state. The results of this will be that in the beginning of next year the state will in fact be without any foreign debt.

The Northern Fringe: Better Out than In the EU

2005-09-11T03:17:00.000Z

Icelanders are often told that Norway is on the way into the European Union. They have been getting this message for a very long time now, for decades of course without it ever coming true. Pretty much the same has been going on in Norway, only there the story is that Iceland is on the way into the EU. In both cases, however, it is highly unlikely that either country will join the EU in the foreseeable future.

Norway has rejected EU membership twice in referendums, first in 1972 and again in 1994. As a consequence the EU is not very eager to enter into new negotiations with the Norwegians. The pro-EU movement in Norway, too, has conceded that it is pointless even to consider new negotiations before there is a stable and vast majority for membership among the Norwegian people. At least 60% has been mentioned in that context.

On Monday general elections are being held in Norway. There is a rather peculiar political landscape in Norway when it comes to the attitude towards EU membership. Although the two traditionally largest political parties in the country, the Conservative Party (Høyre) and the Labour Party (Arbeiterpartiet), are in favour of joining the EU they cannot find a common ground to work together. So there are only two options when it comes to forming a government: a center-right government, including the conservatives and a couple of smaller parties, and a center-left government, including the Labour Party and a couple of smaller parties. These small parties of the right and the left are all opposed to EU membership so neither government will put the issue on the agenda.

As a result the EU issue has been almost completely written off in the ongoing election campaign in Norway. Since the rejection of the proposed EU constitution in France and the Netherlands polls in Norway have repeatedly shown a large majority of Norwegians opposed to the idea of joining the EU. This hostility towards EU membership is not making it more attractive for the Europhiles to raise the issue during the campaign.

However, because of the positive attitude of the two traditionally largest political parties in Norway towards EU membership there is always a certain ongoing debate in the country on the issue, including monthly polls. This is not the case in Iceland where the EU question has simply been as good as dead for years with the sole exception of the second half of 2002 and the beginning of 2003 when there was a short debate on the issue before the general elections in the spring of 2003. The result of this debate in the polls was a vast majority against EU membership.

Although it is highly unlikely that Norway will join the EU in the foreseeable future it is even less likely that Iceland will ever do so. Iceland does not have a pro-EU government nor a pro-EU parliament majority. In fact, only one of the political parties is in favour of joining the EU, the Socialdemocratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), although the party has never actually put the issue on its agenda.

It is not difficult to see why. Iceland is better out than in the EU. The recent United Nations report on living standards and wealth published only a few days ago shows Iceland in second place after... Norway. So why should both countries even consider joining the EU?

(Published before at the Brussels Journal)

Oddsson to leave Icelandic politics

2005-09-07T16:27:00.000Z

Davíð Oddsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland and former Prime Minister, announced today at a press conference his decision to leave politics. He will not seek re-election as chairman of the Icelandic Independence Party after the party's biannual general meeting in October. He will also step down as Foreign Minister and MP on September 27 and instead become president of the Icelandic Central Bank. The vice-chairman of the party and current Finance Minister, Geir H. Haarde, will become Foreign Minister in his place.

Oddsson said to journalists that he had been in the line of fire in Icelandic politics for a long time as they all knew and he had decided that it was a time to step aside. Oddsson served as Prime Minister of Iceland for more than 13 years, from May 1991 until September last year when he became Foreign Minister. Before that he was mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991 and city councilor from 1974 to 1994. He is the longest serving PM in the history of Iceland and one of the longest serving PMs in Europe.

It is highly unlikely, and actually as good as impossible, that Oddsson's resignation will affect the policy of the Independence Party towards the EU in any way since that policy does not stand and fall with him. Opposition to EU membership is widespread within the party in all ranks of it.

Press articles:
Morgunblaðið
Ríkisútvarpið
Bylgjan

New EU poll in Iceland by Gallup

2005-09-07T00:36:00.000Z

According to a new poll in Iceland by Gallup, published on September 1, support for EU membership in Iceland is now 43% and opposition 37%. According to the last EU poll in Iceland in February this year also by Gallup support for membership was 45% and opposition 34%. So the support has decreased by couple of percents since then and the opposition increased by 3%.

Support for starting membership negotiations with the EU keeps dropping as before and is now 55% compared to 91% in February 2002. Last February it was 59%. Some people in Iceland, who are nevertheless opposed to EU membership, obviously think we can start negotiations with the EU about membership just to see what it has to offer and then withdraw if we don't like what is on the table. That is, however, of course not an option from the EU's point of view.

Opposition to adopting the euro instead of the Icelandic króna remains high or 54% while only 37% support that. If only those who took stance to this issue are taken into the picture 59% are opposed to adopting the euro. Since obligation to adopt the euro is a part of joining the EU this in fact means 59% of Icelanders are opposed to EU membership. Obviously some number of Icelanders doesn't realise the link between EU membership and the euro. Something the eurosceptic movement in Iceland has to seriously look into.

No interest - no debate
But why have the political crises within the EU, as it seems, not affected the Icelandic people as for example the people of Norway? There seems to be only one logical explanation for this. For two and a half year there has been almost no debate in Iceland about the EU, unlike in Norway as I understand where there is always a certain ongoing debate. Therefore as a result what happens within the EU is more likely to affect people in Norway than in Iceland.

The question whether Iceland should join the EU or not simply seems to be almost dead among the Icelandic people - at least as it has been for the last couple of years or so. This is simply not high on people's list over the most important issues as it seems. What happens within the EU is something distant. After all Iceland is doing extremely well outside the EU.

However, the trend in Iceland has been that whenever a serious and active debate on the EU has started among the people, like before the last general elections in 2003, those opposed to EU membership have grown in numbers and in the end been in majority.

Finally, as a result of all this, the news coverage on the EU poll now has been without much interest and the common opinion of the Icelandic media is the same: Nothing new has happened in Iceland concerning the EU.

One of the most active spokesman of Icelandic europhiles

2005-09-01T14:41:00.000Z

Eiríkur Bergmann Einarsson was recently appointed the director of the Center for European Studies at the Bifröst School of Business in Iceland. As such he gave a speech yesterday (August 31) at a Nordic conference in Turku in Finland where he among other things said that the EEA agreement was not as much in accordance with how the European Union had evolved today as it was at the signing of the agreement a decade ago. According to Einarsson this has resulted in putting Iceland and Norway on the 'sideline of European cooperation'. Einarsson opinion is, however, completely askew with the view of the Icelandic government and also the Icelandic people according to polls. The common notion in Iceland is that the EEA agreement is in full effectuality and working as it should be.

To shed a little light on this opinion of Einarsson it should be mentioned that he is a deputy MP for the Social Democratic Alliance and a former boardmember of the European Movement Iceland (stepped down only last autumn). He was also described on the website of the European Movement Iceland this summer as 'one of the most active spokesman of [Icelandic] europhiles'. Nevertheless, he constantly portraies himself as a neutral and independent commentor on EU related issues and as such is on regular basis in the Icelandic media.

Einarsson is admittedly quite well educated in European issues but he is nevertheless anything but a neutral commentor when it comes to the EU.