Iceland to join the EU

Dont know if its a done deal. I have two friends whose mother is Icelandic and both are sceptical about the idea. The feeling in Iceland itself is that the financial crisis will pass eventually but as is said above the fishing rights would be gone for good. Most people realise that the last few years were a bit mad and Iceland should try to go back to where it was 10 or 15 years ago. Their crisis was created by a small number of people although a lot joined on the bandwagon as well. Some of the debate mentioned the possibility of pegging Icelands krone to the Euro as a possible solution. One to watch either way.

KINGVictor wrote: »

And...?????

And... you don't think that's relevant to a Politics > European Union Forum why?

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

And... you don't think that's relevant to a Politics > European Union Forum why?

That a country decides to vote whether to join the EU should make sensational news/headlines..No

Iceland is in economic dire straights and may feel they might get some leaverage by joing the EU to get some economic respite.They are purpotedly going to hold a referendum..so I feel we should wait and see the outcome before asking how the daily mail and euroskeptics feel.

Tipsy Mac wrote: »

Ireland has lost over €300 billion worth of fish to EU trawlers fishing in our waters since we joined the EU, I presume it would be worse for Iceland and if they valued their biggest industry they would steer clear of joining.

Here are the real figures, in millions of year 2000 dollars:

Year|Ireland|France|UK|Spain|Russia|Netherlands|Norway|Faeroe(Denmark)|Germany|Belgium|Latvia|Others|Total
1950|12.03|45.4|55.68|0|0|0|0|0|0|1.66|0|0|114.76
1951|9.79|50.24|64.93|0|0|0|0|0|0|1.05|0|0.01|126.02
1952|14.37|62.18|59.14|0|0|0.01|0|0|0|1.55|0|0.06|137.31
1953|15.53|47.35|56.18|6.12|29.35|0|0|0|0|0.95|3.14|3.19|161.8
1954|14.84|60.11|23.38|0|48.17|0|0|0|0|0.83|4.11|4.72|156.17
1955|19.48|71.44|43.88|0|55.52|0.81|0|0.01|0|3.32|4.8|5.73|204.98
1956|18.43|61.2|42.01|0|54.89|0.02|0|0|0|4.49|5.11|5.87|192.01
1957|16.12|62.34|32.36|0|36.71|0|0|0.06|8.47|6.13|4.86|6.02|173.07
1958|21.31|86.66|36.73|0|31.52|0.11|0|0|2.93|6.45|4.64|5.96|196.32
1959|23.26|84.01|31.94|0|34.22|1.24|0|0|1.99|4.21|5|6.65|192.53
1960|21.17|121.28|34.31|0|34.74|0.76|0|0|0.32|1.37|4.74|6.15|224.85
1961|20.99|78.1|26.48|0|35.34|1.01|0|0|0.23|3.02|3.61|4.62|173.4
1962|21.45|103.47|26.01|0|41.2|0.24|0|0|1.7|2.92|4.01|5.03|206.04
1963|22.19|104.44|26.84|0|36.89|1.52|0|0|0.25|1.66|4.84|5.94|204.57
1964|22.24|97.74|33.03|0|33.1|1.09|0|0|0.28|3.45|5.15|6.75|202.82
1965|23.67|110.98|31.49|32.48|25.77|1.43|0|0.37|0.36|4.16|5.02|6.41|242.14
1966|29.2|163.61|26.53|0|32.03|5.16|0|0|0.98|2.89|4.88|6.21|271.49
1967|30.22|87.1|29.92|0|36.43|6.76|0|0.97|0.96|2|4.51|5.6|204.48
1968|31.86|100.48|29.23|0|54.42|5.18|0|0|1.02|1.96|4.75|5.74|234.65
1969|36.71|116|30.68|0|67.96|4.93|0|0|1.98|2.05|4.78|5.75|270.85
1970|43.58|108.04|30.92|0|80.98|3.25|2.3|0|1.13|3.1|7.59|8.22|289.11
1971|44.78|104.54|31.48|0|104.36|3.8|9.57|0.92|0.04|2.76|8.24|10.67|321.16
1972|58.09|89.5|36.9|29.32|83.72|5.49|2.28|0|0.26|1.63|8.41|10.04|325.64
1973|34.86|117.97|47.9|136.42|22.28|5.43|5.45|0.94|1.08|3.19|2.63|4.81|382.97
1974|31.87|104.93|40.6|140.64|63.3|3.01|4.29|0.57|1.66|2.99|5.23|8.22|407.3
1975|31.29|93.85|33.56|174.21|131.27|6.8|0.39|0.23|2.35|2.29|8.25|14.44|498.92
1976|39.29|68.67|38.75|150.06|203.93|6.37|1.26|1.32|2.21|3.64|14.53|22.41|552.45
1977|36.39|53.7|42.41|40.41|18.41|6.82|0.63|1.59|2.67|2.73|1.71|4.77|212.24
1978|40.09|53.01|44.4|25.76|0|6.11|1.65|5.38|9.19|2.12|0|2.87|190.57
1979|43.43|54.28|41.76|31.34|0|6.34|3.23|4.09|4.54|2.08|0|3.76|194.87
1980|55.48|60.58|30.5|19.76|0|9.98|3.53|8.07|4.11|2.72|0|4.22|198.94
1981|67.49|111.72|42.69|25.53|0|18.4|5.34|0.42|4.11|3.96|0|2.79|282.45
1982|79.71|97.11|48.93|24.85|0|18.2|7.65|5.71|1.63|3.98|0|3.02|290.79
1983|77.27|107.91|35.22|25.41|0|21.3|8|5.92|3.34|3.86|0|3.46|291.71
1984|75.95|94.01|47.3|32.51|0|31.69|7.67|8.51|1.69|3.63|0|3|305.95
1985|85.94|78.04|50.34|35.05|0|9.74|8.25|8.17|1.76|3.65|0|2.59|283.52
1986|85.47|74.73|62.75|31.14|0|17.94|11.11|18.48|1.57|3.88|0|2.9|309.98
1987|99.72|66.5|78.44|38.64|0|8.57|9.41|29.67|2.57|2.32|0|2.7|338.55
1988|100.26|66.74|73.21|46.1|0|15.02|10.53|30.99|5.38|2.04|0|2.77|353.05
1989|104.36|95.29|56.65|54.64|0|11.88|15.59|36.08|5.27|3.35|0|2.25|385.37
1990|102.87|79.47|60.66|51.93|0|18.15|14.82|20.96|4.27|2.44|0|1.16|356.73
1991|105.09|58.54|63.13|60.55|0|19|5.37|3.96|4.42|1.24|0|1.16|322.46
1992|153.25|64.32|76.19|68.47|0|19.39|5.06|2.52|8.64|1.71|0|2.21|401.76
1993|155.2|67.45|74.07|71.86|0|27.71|6.55|4.33|11.55|2.09|0|1.46|422.27
1994|138.49|68.75|80.06|66.55|0|21.25|8.92|7.5|12.98|2.9|0|2.47|409.89
1995|157.79|83.43|74.96|77.67|0|22.76|10.52|4.22|8.26|3.75|0|5.77|449.13
1996|141.47|69.86|73.37|71.16|0.59|23.19|13.88|0.33|6.91|3.66|0|3.8|408.22
1997|168.29|80.09|82.45|109.1|0.89|30.73|11.27|1.17|4.6|3.88|0|2|494.45
1998|216.86|84.27|79.59|72.88|0.22|32.35|25.21|1.7|15.75|2.85|0|2.09|533.76
1999|204.95|74.88|78.81|66.53|1.32|20.98|10.99|5.48|8.64|2.69|0|2.2|477.45
2000|153.12|94.37|60.15|47.57|0|30.09|9.24|0|12.94|2.2|0|1.64|411.32
2001|160.66|81.57|61.79|42.73|0|44.4|8.21|0|12.98|2.59|0|2.25|417.19
2002|154.32|78.82|58.05|63.92|0|34.7|8.39|0|10.4|2.71|0|1.39|412.71
2003|191.39|75.44|54.54|79.97|0|43.43|17.38|0|9.55|2.86|0|1.16|475.73
2004|198.02|66.42|50|59.9|0|60.73|12|0|9.26|2.71|0|1.37|460.42
Total|3490.64|0|1843.23|2043.26|442.21|652.46|271.79|218.31|196.28|92.71|32.35|123.11|11933.12


Source

If we throw all of the "Other" category in as EU members, then the total amount of fish the other EU states have taken from our waters is $5.2bn since 1973, while we have had $3.5bn. Over the same period we've received probably close to another half a billion in funding for our fisheries, including the building of 5 out of our 8 existing fisheries protection vessels.

You're free to argue that even that is wrong, if you like, but what you're not free to do is pluck utterly ridiculous figures out of the air.

regards,
Scofflaw

I don't mean to sound crude, but , Screw Iceland , they were happy to sit up in their isolated corner of Europe when they had the money, now it just seems they suddenly see the EU in their best intrests because their broke. I say screw em, they didn't need us then and we don't need them now.

are you all sure there is going to be a referendum? some countries dont use the refernda and trust their assembly instead and as far as i understand the parliament has voted on starting talks with the EU on the matter of joining it.

Rb wrote: »

Because, for the most part, we already play happy families with the rest of the EU however Iceland kept to themselves?

Bit of a difference between Iceland and Ireland in their ties to the rest of Europe.

Hmm. Have you been following the debates on the Lisbon treaty?

ei.sdraob wrote: »

the linked BBC article mentions a referendum

regards
ei.sdraob | boards.ie

oh right thanks...all i knew is that the 12 recent new members, for the most part, didnt have a referendum so i thought maybe iceland wouldnt have either

thebman wrote: »

If we could have had the money without joining most people would probably be against it here too.

I don't think thats a good reason to tell them to go *bleep* themselves.

Emmmmmmm not true friend. Britain still would have joined and we do most of our trade with them so either way we were in. Im just saying its kind of cheeky of Iceland to join now when they wouldn't when they had the money and weren't willing to share.

So

I welcome Iceland joining the EU. For a while there, many of the new states joining were socially backward - Romania & Bulgaria, anyone? I'm pleased that such a progressive country is interested in the Union. Assuming we keep the 1 State :: 1 Commissioner ratio, I believe it'll have a positive impact on the general forward-thinking of the EU.


Other than that, Iceland has huge fresh water supplies (probably not the right word). In the future, access to drinking water will be a big issue, and having Iceland on board will mean a much reduced cost on importing it.


In all, I think it's a positive step.