Iceland’s efforts to join the European Union have taken another step forward, despite the continuing opposition of many Icelanders.
Tuesday 18th December saw split opinions in the country’s government, as the reigning coalition’s entry talks advanced significantly in Brussels. Just hours later, however, a parliamentary committee in Reykjavik moved to side track the process. Iceland has so far completed 11 policy points and has opened negotiations on 27 of the 35 total areas required for membership.
The efforts come amid the impressive economic recovery of the North Atlantic nation in the wake of its 2008 banking collapse. The rebound appears to be having a substantial effect on Iceland’s voters, particularly as Europe’s woes prove resilient. Recent polls now show that more than half of Icelanders now favour withdrawing the country’s bid for EU membership.
Iceland’s foreign minister Ossur Skarphedinsson told reporters on Tuesday that the prospect of refraining from further negotiations prior to the April 2013 elections remains on the table. He said, “What I think is correct for Iceland to do now is consolidate what we have achieved so far,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
Experts note that the country’s next government may push hard to abandon EU membership, as the two major opposition parties support anti-EU policies. EU proponent Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir will also not run in April.
Icelanders you are a true inspiration to the rest of the world because you have stood up to the banking cartels. I too, hope you resist the EU; the ‘globalists’ make pretty speeches about how we need to remove trade barriers, all become “one”(one monetary unit per continent, one centralized government, etc.), yet look at how they go about “leveling the playing field”. Stripping people of their rights, their homes, their life savings, and waging war against the Mid-East…to grab oil. This looks like the Roman Empire rising from the ashes, with the same principles at work. Different day, same sh*t.
It would be pure madness of Iceland to join EU. Can you afford to have 5000 unproductive bureaucrats compiling paper for Brussel in return for a few euro?
Besides the democratic deficit of EU does not sit well will Iceland mentality, not to mention ClubMed ways of not doing things.
Do stay out and pretend you are negotiating as you did with Holland and UK on deposit compensation.
Don’t join Icelanders! It’s not going to benefit you, you will lose every possibility to decide anything yourself! Joining the EU is like to give up democracy! Don’t think for a moment that you would have been better of as a EU member when your banking system collapsed, in fact you would not have been able to recover so fast, Bruxelles would have kept you in it’s iron fist.
And don’t believe for a second you get more influence in the world because it’s the big country that runing it anyway. If Denmark come up with something great that Germany or France don’t agree on, it’s told shut up and do as we say! You’re only 5,5 mio you too small to have right to have influence, don’t believe it’s going to be any different for Iceland.
They will constantly say shut up Icelanders you only around 300.000 people, so do as we say, we are the big ones and therefore the ones that have the power.
Ignore the politicians icelanders!, just look what’s happened to Cyprus, the government there going with their begging bowl to brussels, is that what you want.