Decision should not surprise anyone
Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson. Photo: Ómar Óskarsson
Finance Minister and chairman of the conservative Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson, says his government's decision to scrap Iceland's bid to join the European Union is not a change of policy and therefore consulting the parliament is not necessary. The move should not come as a surprise in light of the government's opposition to EU membership.
Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson delivered a letter to the chair of the EU Presidency and the EU Commission yesterday saying that the government has no intention of restarting Iceland's accession process and asking Brussels to remove the country from its list of candidate countries. The move has been protested by the parliament opposition parties in Iceland accusing the government of bypassing the parliament with its decision.
Benediktsson says to the Icelandic daily Morgunblaðið today that the decision equals the withdrawal of Iceland's EU application and that the decision to scrap the application is Iceland's and Iceland's alone. He furthermore says that the application has in fact been withdrawn gradually since the former government slowed down the accession talks in January 2013 before the general elections in the spring. The decision now is the formal final conclusion.
Benediktsson recalls that a new government opposed to EU membership and backed by a majority in parliament was formed after the elections. In the wake of that Iceland's negotiation teams were dissolved and all grants from the EU related to the accession process then either rejected by Iceland or withdrawn by Brussels.
"Therefore it is perfectly normal for the government to stress at this point that Iceland will not seek membership of the EU. But it shouldn't be the EU's decision if Iceland is considered as a candidate country or not,“ Benediktsson says emphasising the unilateral right of Iceland to take that decision. Brussels has on previous occasions repeatedly stressed that scrapping the EU application or not is solely Iceland's decision.
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