EU debate flares up

The war of words on Iceland’s application to join the European Union (EU) has flared up again in the last few days, with prominent Icelandic politicians past and present weighing in. Some of the latest declarations are more suprising than others.

Iceland not joining any time soon

The ‘bombshell’ came on Sunday when Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson, former Icelandic Foreign Minister, declared that Iceland would not be joining the EU any time soon. Hannibalsson led the now-defunct Social Democratic Party (‘Alþýðuflokkurinn’) for twelve years and served as minister in two administrations. Hannibalsson’s most recent comments are surprising given his fervent support of EU membership during his leadership of the party.

In an interview on the Eyjan television programme on Sunday, Hannibalsson declared that the EU was in financial, political and existential crisis. “We are the victims of an international financial system which is rotten to the core,” he stated. “The system has become so powerful that capitalism, not democracy, now rules.” The former Foreign Minister seemed to call his own well-known pro-EU credentials into question by criticising the EU’s recent dealings with the new Greek government and slating the “ineffective austerity policies thrust upon Europe by Germany”.

No existential crisis

The leader of the Social Democratic Alliance (‘Samfylkingin’), Árni Páll Árnason was quick to play down the significance of Hannibalsson’s unexpected remarks.

Samfylkingin was formed back in 1999 by the alliance of Alþýðuflokkurinn and three other left-wing parties and was the main force behind Iceland’s official application to join in the EU in 2009.

In Árnason’s view, there is nothing in the Hannibalsson interview to suggest that he is in any way against Iceland joining the EU and that he was simply making a statement on the temporary situation faced by both Iceland and the EU. Árnason stressed the importance of individual EU Member-State governments having room for manoeuvre to reject “outdated austerity policies”. He rejected the analysis of his former colleague that the EU was in “existential crisis”. In Árnason’s view, the EU is having to deal with the consequences of the international financial crisis, just as Iceland is having to.

These challenges can only be met effectively by means of European integration.

Icelanders voted for withdrawal

Iceland’s current governing coalition was elected in 2013 on an anti-EU ticket. Official policy, as confirmed earlier this year by both the Foreign Minister and Finance Minister, is to withdraw Iceland’s application to the EU. A bill to this effect was put before the Icelandic Parliament (‘Alþingi’) last year, but MPs were unable to conclude their deliberations on the matter before the summer recess.

Last year’s bill sparked demonstrations outside Alþingi by those unhappy with the government’s decision not to put the decision to withdraw Iceland’s application to referendum.