Iceland in EU. Yes or no?

[Louis VI the Fat]

It is official!!

The oldest parliament in the world has voted 'yes' to a future EU membership.

Parliament in Iceland has voted by a narrow majority to set in motion an application to join the European Union, after five days of gruelling debate.

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir of the Social Democrats has also been pushing for the adoption of the euro as the Nordic country's currency.

The bid must now be approved by the EU, after which Iceland's people will be asked to vote on it in a referendum. Ms Sigurdardottir said that several years of negotiations lay ahead.


The main benefits of EU membership at the moment would be the possibility of joining the exchange rate mechanism, and eventually adopting the euro. EU commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the vote, saying Iceland was a "European country with long and deep democratic roots".
Opponents of the bid fear EU quotas could hurt Iceland's fishing industry. Correspondents say Iceland, with a population of just 320,000, has traditionally been sceptical about joining the EU.
But many people there have warmed to the idea of membership following the devastating economic meltdown which saw the top Icelandic banks collapse in a matter of days last year.

Needless to say, I am very excited by this. Go Vikings!

Plunder Bruxelles at will so long as you send us your women!

[HoreTore]

The colonials are acting up again...

The only sensible action for Iceland is, of course, to embrace Norwegian overlordship again. Together we will rule the world!! The monks on England's coast will scream with horror!




Btw Louis, not to crush your hopes, but the woman they will send most is their PM.... And she's gay....

[Viking]

If this is a step towards making Old Norse the sole official language of the EU; then, by all means, I am all for it.

As for the genetical health of the women in such a small populace on an isolated island, uh...I remain unconvinced of the superiority.

[Beskar]

Btw Louis, not to crush your hopes, but the woman they will send most is their PM.... And she's gay....

Great news for LGBT community, a woman and homosexual. Go Iceland.

[Hooahguy]

i dont see why not. are there even any icelanders in the backroom?

[HoreTore]

i dont see why not. are there even any icelanders in the backroom?

As there are only some 300.000 of them, chances are rather low....

EDIT: As to "why not"; it's fishing. That's the main concern for iceland, that the EU will chop up their quotas, drive away the local fishermen and overfish, thus emptying their banks....

[Vladimir]

EDIT: As to "why not"; it's fishing. That's the main concern for iceland, that the EU will chop up their quotas, drive away the local fishermen and overfish, thus emptying their banks....

Too late!

[Kralizec]

It's up to them, if they say they want in I say they're welcome.

The fishy issue is worrysome, though.

[Louis VI the Fat]

The fishy issue is worrysome, though.

Fishery is an unmitigated environmental catastrophe.

Short-sighted local interests means that the EU fishing quota are set at unsustainable levels. I have some hope Iceland could talk some sense into other countries. Hopefully, but not likely. Which is why the Icelandic Green Party voted 'no' today.

As it stands, any proposed lowering of fish quota to sustainable levels is met everywhere within the EU with furious allegations of intrusive 'Brussels bureaucracy', out to destroy fishing communities. No amount of structural funds to support other means of income can placate the fury. They'll fish and fish until everything is gone.

In Iceland fish stocks are as depleted as foreign bank accounts. For the foreseeable future, fishery won't save Iceland I think. Doesn't matter. All nations that have joined the EU were bankrupt and in need of economic re-structuring upon joining (except the class of 1995). It is what the EU specialises in.


For the sake of fun:

Cod Wars.

The wars that raged after WWII between Iceland and the UK over fish. Iceland's navy vs the Royal Navy. Iceland won.

There raged a similar war between Norway and Iceland I think.

[Kralizec]

Fishery is an unmitigated environmental catastrophe.

Yes, it is.

As it stands, any proposed lowering of fish quota to sustainable levels is met everywhere within the EU with furious allegations of intrusive 'Brussels bureaucracy', out to destroy fishing communities.

Until last year the fishing quota for tuna in the mediteranean was actually very close to what's considered sustaintable. The problem is that most countries have fishing fleets capable of easily exceeding this amount on their own. The fishing quota is a farce; Italian fishermen justify their behaviour by pointing out that the French and Spanish are doing the same. And none of those countries are interested in enforcing the rules.

One of the arguments against Icelandic entry, from their own perspective, is that their own fishing regulations are at least as good and are enforced properly.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Of course, I have some hope that today's vote will have an impact on another small Atlantic Island state...

Almost equally in the grip of fast money made from lax financial and taxation laws, and left almost as ravaged because of it.



@Kralizec. Yes, it only ever takes a handful of angry fishermen for Paris or local authorities to cave in.

[Pannonian]

Of course, I have some hope that today's vote will have an impact on another small Atlantic Island state...

Almost equally in the grip of fast money made from lax financial and taxation laws, and left almost as ravaged because of it.

Of course, Ireland's problems would be alleviated somewhat if they joined her neighbours to the east, who reside in splendour in the English Ocean.

[KukriKhan]

Iceland. Geo-thermal energy production champion of the world.

Cute, yet sturdy girls.

We shudda offered 'em Statehood.

Dang.

[Don Corleone]

I think we need to start a bidding war for those Icelandic women. NAFTA should make a bid.

[Furunculus]

Voted: "I'm Icelandic but support a Gahyser Union"

because it's not my place to tell the people of iceland what political groupings they should join.

they did very well outside the EU, however the current financial crisis has obviously made icelandic politicians value security more than opportunity, we shall see if the icelandic people hold the same view come the referendum.