Iceland and the EU?

Lockstep

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0224/eu.html

The European Commission has recommended that Iceland should open EU membership negotiations, saying it fulfills the main political. economic and legislative criteria to start talks.

'Today the commission published its opinion on a new applicant country, Iceland, in which it recommends the opening of accession negotiations,' EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule told reporters in Brussels.

It is now up to the 27 member states to endorse the commission's decision.
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Mr Fule would not put a deadline on the talks, but admitted that Iceland's membership of the European Economic Area -- the regional single market area -- was a definite advantage.

As a member of the EEA it already fulfills some three-quarters of the EU's accession criteria.

Mr Fulem however, stressed that much work remained to be done and that the same accession criteria would be applied to Iceland as to all other EU hopefuls.

Reykjavik, which put in its application bid last July, hopes to be able to enter the European Union in 2012.

Iceland will join a select group of nations, including Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey, which have official EU candidate nation status.

It may end up leap-frogging the queue to become the 28th member of the European Union, given the various problems of the other candidates.

The commission's recommendation comes despite an ongoing row between Iceland and EU members Britain and Netherlands over the collapse of an Icelandic bank in 2008.

Iceland's finance minister Monday rejected a British and Dutch proposal that would compensate depositors who lost money in the collapse of online bank Icesave.

However, Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson stressed that his government wanted to continue negotiating on an arrangement to reimburse 320,000 British and Dutch savers victimised by the failure of the bank.

Any thoughts on the matter?

It's economy could be problematic but politics have trumped economics in the past (Greek accession)

Martin 2

kickoutthejams wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0224/eu.html




Any thoughts on the matter?

It's economy could be problematic but politics have trumped economics in the past (Greek accession)

I'd imagine one of the main benefits for Iceland if they join the EU would be possible membership of the Eurozone; they have seen the risks associated with having a small national currency. Another benefit for the ordinary Icelanders is that the EU will keep an eye on the financial controls of their government and warn of any delinquent behaviour. There are lots of other benefits of EU membership but these ones are particularly relevant to Iceland at the moment.

I'd certainly welcome Iceland's membership and it would be nice to have another north Atlantic island nation in the Union.

Scofflaw

kickoutthejams wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0224/eu.html

Any thoughts on the matter?

It's economy could be problematic but politics have trumped economics in the past (Greek accession)

They're one of the best candidate countries around - I'd say their economic woes may be a handicap, but their economy is small enough that it's hardly going to destabilise the eurozone.

cordially,
Scofflaw

View

But if Iceland joins the EU, what will happen to our Eurosceptics' case that we should emulate them by leaving the EU and joining EFTA?

ei.sdraob

View wrote: »

But if Iceland joins the EU, what will happen to our Eurosceptics' case that we should emulate them by leaving the EU and joining EFTA?

then they will point the finger at UK whose economy is doing so great with them not being in the euro and all

oh wait...

conorhal

Just look at what happened to the fishing industry in Ireland. Despite the fact that the 'Irish box' is among the richest fishing grounds in Europe our fishing industry is slowly going out of business and billions in revenue, far in excess of any subsidy we have received has been funneled into other EU economies. We gave away our fishing industry to the EU the same was that we gave away our gas the Shell.
40% of Iceland’s economy, post bust, consists of fishing and fishing related industry. It would be suicidal of them to join the common fisheries policy.

ei.sdraob

@ conorhal

what did happen to fishing here?

a few facts and references would be appreciated to back up your "claims"

it was discussed manys of times here with references by Scofflaw and me and others about who and how much is fished from Irish waters

Daftendirekt

@ conorhal

what did happen to fishing here?

a few facts and references would be appreciated to back up your "claims"

it was discussed manys of times here with references by Scofflaw and me and others about who and how much is fished from Irish waters

And here it is again for anyone who missed it.

Martin 2

conorhal wrote: »

Just look at what happened to the fishing industry in Ireland. Despite the fact that the 'Irish box' is among the richest fishing grounds in Europe our fishing industry is slowly going out of business and billions in revenue, far in excess of any subsidy we have received has been funneled into other EU economies. We gave away our fishing industry to the EU the same was that we gave away our gas the Shell.
40% of Iceland’s economy, post bust, consists of fishing and fishing related industry. It would be suicidal of them to join the common fisheries policy.

Here is a good site link which debunks a lot of the myths around the Irish fishing industry. Certainly between 1974 and 2004 the value of fish taken from the Irish waters was only a small portion of the subsidies we received from the EU, furthermore our catch in value and as a percentage of total catch by all countries has actually gone up since we joined the EEC (now EU)... see link

Our fishing industry isn't the only one suffering at the moment most other EU countries are similar and it's because of necessary fishery control measures designed to prevent overfishing and the severe reduction of fish stocks.

Impassive

Martin 2 wrote: »

Our fishing industry isn't the only one suffering at the moment most other EU countries are similar and it's because of necessary fishery control measures designed to prevent overfishing and the total decimation of fish stocks.

We can do alright with 90% of our fish stocks, no?

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1025

Martin 2

Impassive wrote: »

Originally Posted by Martin 2
Our fishing industry isn't the only one suffering at the moment most other EU countries are similar and it's because of necessary fishery control measures designed to prevent overfishing and the total decimation of fish stocks.

We can do alright with 90% of our fish stocks, no?

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1025

Oops, have edited post. Was aware of the 10 in the word but strangely thought it was to reduce to 10% not by 10%.

killer_cain

indeed;)