EU application still “fully in force”

There is a fundamental difference between a letter from the government signalling that EU accession negotiations will not be continued and the parliamentary bill moved by the Foreign Minister last year calling for Iceland’s EU application to be withdrawn. This is the view of Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Speaker of the House (‘Alþingi’), as expressed in a report presented to MPs yesterday.

EU letter changes nothing

According to Guðfinnsson, the 2009 parliamentary resolution calling for Iceland to apply to join the EU is still fully in force and the recent government announcement does nothing to change that. Only Alþingi can decided on the future of the application. He did, however, concede that parliamentary resolutions did not have legal force but were an expression of the political will of Alþingi at a given point in time.

Reasonable and logical action

In a heated debate in Alþingi yesterday afternoon, senior government representatives were quick to defend their case. Minister for the Environment, Sigrún Magnúsdóttir, indicated that the cabinet had been unanimous in its decision to have Iceland removed from the EU’s list of candidate countries. She also reiterated the principle that the current government is not bound by a resolution passed in the previous parliament.

The Icelandic Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs, Bjarni Benediktsson, stressed the impossibility of properly conducting accession negotiations in the best interests of Iceland when the application is supported neither by Cabinet nor a parliamentary majority. Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, spoke in similar terms, indicating that an obvious prerequisite for Iceland being an EU candidate country is a government which supports EU membership.

Harsh criticism

Leader of the Social Democratic Alliance (‘Samfylkingin’), Árni Páll Árnason, described the government’s controversial move – “a deliberate attempt to side-step parliament” – as “verging on treason”. Helgi Hjörvar, MP for the same party, accused Benediktsson of reneging on his pre-election pledge of a referendum on the continuation of EU accession negotiations.

Protestors descended on Alþingi yesterday afternoon for the third time in the last four days to express their indigation at latest developments. Police estimate the crowd at some 300-400 people, considerably down on the figures recorded on previous days.