Increased emphasis on dialogue on defense
Both the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister said that the government is in close contact with other Nordic countries on security and defense issues, although ministers do not have the opportunity to attend all meetings. There is no need to fear that this issue is being neglected; on the contrary, the current government is not afraid to discuss openly the issues that were not the case with the previous government.
This was evident in the ministers' speech when Morgunblaðið spoke to them after a government meeting yesterday.
"We are submitting a report on security and defense issues for discussion in parliament, which is very important," says Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir.
"We have initiated various projects, both within NATO and in cooperation with the Nordic countries, both with foreign ministers and also with defense ministers. I will meet with the NATO defense minister in mid-February and then go to the defense conference in Munich, as well as the Prime Minister. So there is a lot in the pipeline, a lot that we intend to do even better.”
A more open conversation
“We have been taking certain steps and we need to continue taking those steps so that our emphasis is much stronger than before on security and defense issues and we are not shy about talking about them, as perhaps has been the case in the last seven years, because of the composition of that government.”
But aren’t we facing new challenges, including here in the immediate vicinity?
“You are very right. Before Trump made his statements, I had set myself the goal of strengthening and strengthening cooperation with Greenland and there is every reason to do so, both from the perspective of Icelandic interests, but also from the perspective of the international interests of Greenlanders and us here in the North Atlantic. We need to deepen that cooperation and I intend to do so, as I informed the government about earlier and there was a great deal of consensus.”
The Minister believes it is right to open up a more public dialogue on defense and security issues. There are all the prerequisites for this in parliament and among the nation, and there is no opposition to closer cooperation with the main allies.
What about the meeting of Nordic defense ministers, which you did not attend?
“It was originally supposed to be a remote meeting…”
Yes, but this comes directly after the Prime Minister did not attend a meeting of other Nordic leaders on security and defense. Isn’t it a matter of concern if people get the impression that Iceland is becoming an outsider in that regard?
“It is not that the Prime Minister is an outsider in this matter. She has been in very deep and extensive dialogue with all her colleagues abroad.
There are countless ministerial meetings and it is up and down whether the minister can attend them all, but I felt sorry that I could not attend this meeting. "I just couldn't make it because I was booked elsewhere, but I thought it was important that the deputy head of the ministry go, that's normal."