More than two thirds of Icelanders would vote against joining the European Union if a referendum would be held on the matter according to a new opinion poll published yesterday by the Icelandic polling company MMR.
According to the poll 63.3 percent now oppose EU membership while less than a quarter support it or 24.2 percent. If only those who said yes or no are measured more than 72 percent would reject joining the bloc in a referendum.
Large majority of Icelanders has now rejected EU membership according to every single opinion poll published in Iceland since the summer of 2009 or for more than three and a half year.
Source:
63,3% andvíg inngöngu í ESB (Mbl.is February 13, 2013)
1/05/2013
Minister says EU application must be reconsidered
The application to join the European Union must be reconsidered in light of a changed situation. This Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, Iceland's Minister for Industries and Innovation and chairman of the Left Green Movement, said in a New Year's greeting to his fellow party members on January 2.
Sigfússon said it was now „inevitable“ to reconsider the accession talks with the EU claiming the situation had changed as it was now obvious the talks would not be finished before the general elections scheduled in April this year. Furthermore he said the task over the next weeks was to decide how and when the Icelandic people would be asked for a guidence on how to address the matter.
By that Sigfússon was referring to a referendum asking the people if they want to continue with the EU application or put it aside. Support for such a referendum has been growing in Iceland among the political class and a recent opinion poll showed large majority for scrapping the application. There is also a large majority against EU membership and has been in every poll published in Iceland since August 2009.
Sigfússon's party is in government with the Social Democratic Alliance which favours EU membership while his own party, the Left Green Movement, is opposed to membership according to its policy. The leadership of the Left Greens, however, decided to allow the EU application in 2009 in order to form a government with the social democrats.
Since allowing the EU application the Left Green Movement has lost more than half its votes according to polls and three of the 14 MPs they got elected in the last general elections. The reason is primarily considered to be the party's decision to allow the application in 2009 and support it ever since.
Source:
Óumflýjanlegt að endurmeta stöðuna (Mbl.is January 3, 2013)
See also:
Want the EU application on ice
Wants to slow down the EU accession
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
Sigfússon said it was now „inevitable“ to reconsider the accession talks with the EU claiming the situation had changed as it was now obvious the talks would not be finished before the general elections scheduled in April this year. Furthermore he said the task over the next weeks was to decide how and when the Icelandic people would be asked for a guidence on how to address the matter.
By that Sigfússon was referring to a referendum asking the people if they want to continue with the EU application or put it aside. Support for such a referendum has been growing in Iceland among the political class and a recent opinion poll showed large majority for scrapping the application. There is also a large majority against EU membership and has been in every poll published in Iceland since August 2009.
Sigfússon's party is in government with the Social Democratic Alliance which favours EU membership while his own party, the Left Green Movement, is opposed to membership according to its policy. The leadership of the Left Greens, however, decided to allow the EU application in 2009 in order to form a government with the social democrats.
Since allowing the EU application the Left Green Movement has lost more than half its votes according to polls and three of the 14 MPs they got elected in the last general elections. The reason is primarily considered to be the party's decision to allow the application in 2009 and support it ever since.
Source:
Óumflýjanlegt að endurmeta stöðuna (Mbl.is January 3, 2013)
See also:
Want the EU application on ice
Wants to slow down the EU accession
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
12/18/2012
Want the application on ice
The majority of the Foreign Committee of the Icelandic parliament put forth a proposal this morning calling for Iceland's application to join the European Union to be set aside. The matter then should not be addressed again unless accepted in a referendum.
The majority was formed by the representatives of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party, which are in opposition, and Jón Bjarnason, MP for the Left Green Movement and former Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, but his party is part of the governing coalition. The proposal will be put to the parliament in order to find out if the majority of the MPs will support it.
Earlier this month Árni Þór Sigurðsson, MP for the Left Greens and chairman of the Foreign Committe, said that he wanted to slow down Iceland's accession process to the EU until after the general elections scheduled in April next year. A new government would then have the task of decided whether to carry on with the process or not. He is, however, not expected to support the proposal.
Source:
Viðræðurnar við ESB verði settar á ís (Mbl.is December 18, 2012)
See also:
Wants to slow down the EU accession
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
The majority was formed by the representatives of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party, which are in opposition, and Jón Bjarnason, MP for the Left Green Movement and former Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, but his party is part of the governing coalition. The proposal will be put to the parliament in order to find out if the majority of the MPs will support it.
Earlier this month Árni Þór Sigurðsson, MP for the Left Greens and chairman of the Foreign Committe, said that he wanted to slow down Iceland's accession process to the EU until after the general elections scheduled in April next year. A new government would then have the task of decided whether to carry on with the process or not. He is, however, not expected to support the proposal.
Source:
Viðræðurnar við ESB verði settar á ís (Mbl.is December 18, 2012)
See also:
Wants to slow down the EU accession
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
12/07/2012
Wants to slow down the EU accession
The chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Icelandic parliament, Árni Þór Sigurðsson, told the Icelandic media yesterday that he thought that Iceland's accession to the European Union should be slowed down until after the general elections scheduled in April next year and even put aside.
Sigurðsson is an MP for the Left Green Movement and a senior member of the party which forms the current Icelandic government with the Social Democratic Alliance. The SDA is the only political party in Iceland that favours EU membership.
He stressed that this was so far only an opinion and no decision had been made on the matter. However, this was directly liked to similar opinions raised last autumn by himself and a couple of Left Green ministers in the government.
Sigurðsson also said that after the elections in April a newly elected parliament could then possibly take a new decision whether to continue with the accession process or not. His comments are seen by many as a desperate move because of the elections.
The Left Green leadership decided to allow the EU application in 2009 in order to form a government with the social democrats despite the fact their party is opposed to membership according to its platform. The decision has among other things resulted in the Left Greens loosing about haft the votes they got in the last elections according to polls.
Meanwhile, primaries of the political parties so far are seen as suggesting that the next parliament will be more eurosceptic than the current one. Egill Helgason, a talk show host on the national broadcaster RÚV and a known supporter of EU membership, wrote on his blog in November:
"As we get results from more primaries and the forming of lists of candidates EU membership for Iceland becomes more distant. If it would have been hard to get it through the current parliament it will be almost impossible at the next one."
Vast majority of Icelanders oppose EU membership and have according to every opinion poll published in Iceland for more than three years. The majority also does not want to adopt the euro and wants the EU application withdrwan.
Sources:
Ferlið jafnvel lagt til hliðar (Mbl.is December 6, 2012)
ESB-aðildin fjarlægist í prófkjörum (Eyjan.is November 26, 2012)
See also:
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
Sigurðsson is an MP for the Left Green Movement and a senior member of the party which forms the current Icelandic government with the Social Democratic Alliance. The SDA is the only political party in Iceland that favours EU membership.
He stressed that this was so far only an opinion and no decision had been made on the matter. However, this was directly liked to similar opinions raised last autumn by himself and a couple of Left Green ministers in the government.
Sigurðsson also said that after the elections in April a newly elected parliament could then possibly take a new decision whether to continue with the accession process or not. His comments are seen by many as a desperate move because of the elections.
The Left Green leadership decided to allow the EU application in 2009 in order to form a government with the social democrats despite the fact their party is opposed to membership according to its platform. The decision has among other things resulted in the Left Greens loosing about haft the votes they got in the last elections according to polls.
Meanwhile, primaries of the political parties so far are seen as suggesting that the next parliament will be more eurosceptic than the current one. Egill Helgason, a talk show host on the national broadcaster RÚV and a known supporter of EU membership, wrote on his blog in November:
"As we get results from more primaries and the forming of lists of candidates EU membership for Iceland becomes more distant. If it would have been hard to get it through the current parliament it will be almost impossible at the next one."
Vast majority of Icelanders oppose EU membership and have according to every opinion poll published in Iceland for more than three years. The majority also does not want to adopt the euro and wants the EU application withdrwan.
Sources:
Ferlið jafnvel lagt til hliðar (Mbl.is December 6, 2012)
ESB-aðildin fjarlægist í prófkjörum (Eyjan.is November 26, 2012)
See also:
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Majority against EU membership for three years
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
11/12/2012
Majority wants to scrap the EU application
Most Icelanders want to withdraw their country's application to join the European Union according to a new public opinion poll produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn, the Icelandic movement opposed to EU membership, and published today.
53.5 percent want to scrap the EU application according to the poll while 36.4 percent wish to maintain it. The rest was uncertain. If only those in favour of withdrawing the application or opposed to it are counted 59.5 percent want the application scrapped while 40.5 percent want to carry on with it.
Similar poll was produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn in June 2011 where 51 percent wanted to withdraw the EU application while 38.5 percent were opposed to that. According to that support for scrapping the application has grown while oppositon to that has decreased.
The difference between this outcome and polls about whether or not Icelanders want to actually join the EU is due to the fact that a small part of those opposed to membership want to the issue to go to an eventual referendum and be rejected by the people.
Source:
Þeim fjölgar sem vilja afturkalla ESB-umsóknina (Mbl.is November 12, 2012)
See also:
Majority against EU membership for three years
53.5 percent want to scrap the EU application according to the poll while 36.4 percent wish to maintain it. The rest was uncertain. If only those in favour of withdrawing the application or opposed to it are counted 59.5 percent want the application scrapped while 40.5 percent want to carry on with it.
Similar poll was produced by Capacent Gallup for Heimssýn in June 2011 where 51 percent wanted to withdraw the EU application while 38.5 percent were opposed to that. According to that support for scrapping the application has grown while oppositon to that has decreased.
The difference between this outcome and polls about whether or not Icelanders want to actually join the EU is due to the fact that a small part of those opposed to membership want to the issue to go to an eventual referendum and be rejected by the people.
Source:
Þeim fjölgar sem vilja afturkalla ESB-umsóknina (Mbl.is November 12, 2012)
See also:
Majority against EU membership for three years
10/15/2012
Majority against EU membership for three years
Most Icelanders have opposed joining the European Union for more than three years now according to every single opinion poll which has been published in the country regardless of who has produced it or for whom.
The newest opinion poll was published today by Capacent Gallup and according to it 57.6 percent of Icelanders are against EU membership while 27.3 percent support it. The rest is undecided. If only those in favour or opposed are measured about 68 percent ara against joining the EU and 32% in favour of the step.
Compared to the poll produced before the current poll the opposition has increased by 3.8 percent, from 53.8 percent to 57.6 percent as it is now. The support has on the other hand remained about the same. According to the poll those against EU membership are much more firm in their opinion with most supporters of joining the EU only saying the are rather much in favour.
The poll also found that large majority of the voters of all the major political parties in Iceland are opposed to EU membership except for the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) which heads the current coalition government in Iceland and is the only political party in favour of joining the bloc. Which in turn is the sole reason why the EU application his being maintained.
The newest opinion poll in Iceland on Icelanders attitude towards the euro from earlier this year also show most Icelanders opposed to adopting it instead of the Icelandic króna and the newest poll on the nations view of the EU application shows majority in favour of withdrawing it.
Source:
Mikill meirihluti andvígur aðild að ESB (Mbl.is October 15, 2012)
The newest opinion poll was published today by Capacent Gallup and according to it 57.6 percent of Icelanders are against EU membership while 27.3 percent support it. The rest is undecided. If only those in favour or opposed are measured about 68 percent ara against joining the EU and 32% in favour of the step.
Compared to the poll produced before the current poll the opposition has increased by 3.8 percent, from 53.8 percent to 57.6 percent as it is now. The support has on the other hand remained about the same. According to the poll those against EU membership are much more firm in their opinion with most supporters of joining the EU only saying the are rather much in favour.
The poll also found that large majority of the voters of all the major political parties in Iceland are opposed to EU membership except for the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) which heads the current coalition government in Iceland and is the only political party in favour of joining the bloc. Which in turn is the sole reason why the EU application his being maintained.
The newest opinion poll in Iceland on Icelanders attitude towards the euro from earlier this year also show most Icelanders opposed to adopting it instead of the Icelandic króna and the newest poll on the nations view of the EU application shows majority in favour of withdrawing it.
Source:
Mikill meirihluti andvígur aðild að ESB (Mbl.is October 15, 2012)
8/13/2012
Social democrats worried about the EU application
The Left Green Movement must stick to the government pact which includes continued support for Iceland's application to join the European Union. If they do not that will mean the end of the current center-left government in Iceland led by the Social Democratic Alliance. This is the reaction by the leaders of Iceland's social democrats to claims from leading people within the Left Green Movement over the weekend that the application should be reconsidered.
The media in Iceland, including the state broadcaster RUV and the prominent newspaper Morgunblaðið, claim the majority of the Left Green MPs and government ministers are in favour of reconsidering the EU application. According to their platform the Left Greens are opposed to EU membership but the party allowed the application after the 2009 general elections in order to be able to form a government with the Social Democratic Alliance which is the only political party in Iceland that favours joining the EU.
The Left Greens have lost about half the votes they got in 2009 according to repeated opinion polls and fear facing the voters before the general elections scheduled next spring if they do not turn against the EU application. There are also growing calls among the social democrats that perhaps it would be wise to put the EU application on ice or even scrap it all together due to the unpopularity of the matter among the Icelandic electorate but at least 2/3 of them would reject joining the EU in a referendum according to opinion polls.
The media in Iceland, including the state broadcaster RUV and the prominent newspaper Morgunblaðið, claim the majority of the Left Green MPs and government ministers are in favour of reconsidering the EU application. According to their platform the Left Greens are opposed to EU membership but the party allowed the application after the 2009 general elections in order to be able to form a government with the Social Democratic Alliance which is the only political party in Iceland that favours joining the EU.
The Left Greens have lost about half the votes they got in 2009 according to repeated opinion polls and fear facing the voters before the general elections scheduled next spring if they do not turn against the EU application. There are also growing calls among the social democrats that perhaps it would be wise to put the EU application on ice or even scrap it all together due to the unpopularity of the matter among the Icelandic electorate but at least 2/3 of them would reject joining the EU in a referendum according to opinion polls.
8/12/2012
Want the EU application reconsidered
 |
| Katrín Jakobsdóttir |
RUV talked to both Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Minister of Education, Science and Culture and vice-chairman of the Left Green Movement, and Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Minister for the Environment, who both claimed the EU application should be reconsidered. The state broadcaster also said it also got similar reactions from most of the MPs of the party.
According to RUV's news story the Left Greens are worried that their party will suffer greatly if they carry on allowing the EU accession process as they have done since 2009 when the application was delivered. They also claim that many things have changed since three years ago citing the eurozone economic problems and uncertainty where the EU is heading.
The policy of the Left Greens is opposition to EU membership but they allowed the application after the 2009 general elections in order to form a government with the Social Democratic Alliance, the only political party in Iceland favouring membership.
According to opinion polls in Iceland more than 2/3 would reject EU membership in a referendum but for the country to join the bloc it would first have to be accepted by a popular vote. Furthermore the Left Greens have lost half the votes they got in 2009 accoring to opinion polls.
RUV's news story (in Icelandic)
7/02/2012
Iceland's eurosceptic president re-elected
 |
| Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson |
One of the biggest issues debated in the election campaign was whether Iceland should join the European Union or not. Grímsson confirmed early in the campaign his previously known stance that he was absolutely opposed to EU membership while Arnórsdóttir refused to make her opinion on the matter public. She nevertheless said that joining the EU under the current circumstances was like renting a room in a burning building.
Political analysts in Iceland have generally agreed that Grímsson's opposition to EU membership did much to secure his victory while at the same time claims that Arnórsdóttir favoured joining the bloc did not help her campaign. It was e.g. pointed out that she had been active in the European Movement Iceland in the 90s.
Grímsson has said after the elections that he regards the results as a call for him to take a more active and outspoken role in the debate in Iceland about larger issues such as whether Iceland should join the EU or not.
5/09/2012
Iceland's business leaders reject EU membership
New opinion poll among Icelandic business leaders shows that 63.9 percent of them are opposed to the idea that Iceland should become a member of the European Union while 36.1 percent favour membership.
The poll was produced by the polling company MMR for the Icelandic business newspaper Viðskiptablaðið.
Sources:
Könnun: 64% stjórnenda fyrirtækja á móti aðild að ESB (Vb.is May 9, 2012)
Mikill meirihluti stjórnenda á móti ESB (Mbl.is May 9, 2012)
Related posts:
Majority of Icelanders remains opposed to EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
The poll was produced by the polling company MMR for the Icelandic business newspaper Viðskiptablaðið.
Sources:
Könnun: 64% stjórnenda fyrirtækja á móti aðild að ESB (Vb.is May 9, 2012)
Mikill meirihluti stjórnenda á móti ESB (Mbl.is May 9, 2012)
Related posts:
Majority of Icelanders remains opposed to EU membership
Iceland's industry turns against EU membership
67 percent would reject EU membership
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