Better Out than In

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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