An Icelandic army is not on the agenda

Minister of Foreign Affairs Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir tells mbl.is that it is not time to establish a military force in Iceland and it has not been seriously discussed within the government. Infinitely, however, the government has talked a lot about defense, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine over a year ago.

In Saturday’s issue of Morgunblaðið, former defence bureau chief Arnór Sigurjónsson was interviewed about his newly released book Icelandic Army, Changed World – a New Reality. He believes that it should be discussed seriously and that Icelandic army should be formed to ensure the country’s security and defenses for the future.

“I very much welcome any discussion on security and defense issues. Arnór’s book has a clear approach to what he believes to be the task ahead of us, and it also puts it in context with the decades ahead and our general approach to security and defense in Iceland. While I have been mostly asked whether I agree with forming an Icelandic army, I have no difficulty answering, as I can say that I don’t think that will be our next step here in Iceland,” Þórdís says, adding that even if she were of the opinion, there would be many steps ahead prior to the creation of an Icelandic army.

“So it’s a question of what you define as an army and whether we need to reinforce the civilian elements that we have in place here and so on.”

NATO is the cornerstone of our national security

Gylfadóttir says she agrees with Sigurjónsson that there needs to be more and deeper discussion on security and defense matters in Iceland.

“And we need to be comparing ourselves more to what other nations are doing and how Iceland can fit into that picture.  Because sometimes it’s like this is not particularly relevant to us, and of course that’s not true,” she says, adding that there is a huge interest in our part in defense contracts.

“Blessedly, we have positioned ourselves as one of the groups that many people want to belong to, that is, being a NATO member is the cornerstone of our national security,” Gylfadóttir says, also mentioning Iceland’s bilateral agreement with the United States.

She cites Iceland’s radar stations and increased activity in the Keflavík area as being among other important factors in our participation in defense contracts.

No country is an island when it comes to defence

“All states are increasing their defense-related spending, and we’re doing that, of course, as well,” she says.

“I am of the opinion that our view should always be that we are worthy allies. We should take seriously the need to evaluate our plans, our work and our coordination between ministries, the agencies and so on, so we are in line with plans, and the agenda of NATO. They are updating everything as well as the countries around us and we need to work on our relationships and improve our position. Because there is no country an island when it comes to defence and not Iceland either.”

Emotions not part of the equation

In today’s Morgunblaðið there is an interview with Friðrik Jónsson, a security and defense expert who says that the discussion about Icelandic military always ends up unresolved because of people’s feelings on the subject.

Gylfadóttir says she does not know what Jónsson is referring to, but surely defence issues from the old days are an extremely sensitive topic for many.

“However, it’s not sensitive to me. My answer to the fact that starting an Icelandic army is not next on the agenda has nothing to do with emotions. Ultimately, I don’t take it personally when I hear this idea being projected because I think there’s a certain truth to this,” she says.

"Disgusting war in Europe"

“I know there are voices who say that Icelanders have been able and should have taken defense issues more seriously over the years, but it also needs to be kept in mind how much everything changed when President Putin of Russia decided to go to war and invade Europe with a pointless war and attack a sovereign and an independent state. It changes the picture dramatically. It changes our philosophy and the reality of our region.”

Gylfadóttir says it takes a certain amount of time to digest what kind of changes the war has brought, adding, however, that she already makes different demands on politicians.

She says that it is a huge setback that ‘we have such an old-fashioned, inhuman, unnecessary and disgusting war in Europe’.

“That means we need see how we fit into that reality, whether we like it or not,” Gylfadóttir says, adding that a line was drawn on February 24, 2022, when the war began with an apparent escalation.

Increased participation in NATO

She says much of the State Department's work and her work as a minister now are focused on the consequences of the war.

“So I fully agree that we need to properly understand what has happened, what our situation is, what role we have to play, both inside NATO and in other cooperation,” Gylfadóttir says, emphasizing that Iceland has been increasing participation, presence and information gathering recently.

“And we are making us more applicable in all of this because we can see perfectly well what changes have taken place and what it means for Iceland, which all depends on having enough deterrence and enough protection and that the reality that we have benefited from so far, will survive this invasion. In other realities, Iceland has far fewer or fewer options.”

No outside pressure to create an army

Has the possibility of an Icelandic army been discussed with any seriousness within the government?

“No,” Gylfadóttir says simply, mentioning that there is no outside pressure to make that decision.

“I am regularly asked about this by the media abroad, but in our meetings and in this cooperation there is no pressure on this, and it is not a topic of discussion as such.”

Proud allies

“There are many things we’ve been doing, we need to do, that I would like to see us doing even more of and better. And it’s also that we want to be worthy allies, as we have put great emphasis on, being quick and sometimes able to run faster than others and react,” Gylfadóttir says, mentioning that Icelanders brought other states’ weapons to Ukraine two days after the invasion began.

“We can, by virtue of our small size and shorter routes, we can sometimes simply run faster. And I feel that our position and our commitment should be there, among other things. Because there is a need, and there is a demand for it. We should take our role seriously, find our position and do what we do well. And again, stay in this tight partnership and keep it tight because even the countries that are putting additional resources into defense-related spending and those with military forces all rely on these defense cooperation. And know that in order to improve their positions – to increase their repercussions and increase their defenses — they do so through NATO and through this cooperation, just as we are doing, even though our position is otherwise not the same,” concludes the foreign minister.