The Independence Party remains utterly opposed to EU membership

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.