Dishonest to maintain the candidacy

"We don't want to join the European Union and therefore we don't want to seek EU membership," says Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland, to the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið regarding his government's decision that Iceland should no longer be considered an EU candidate country.

Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson delivered letters to the European Commission and the Presidency of the Council of the European Union on Thursday saying Iceland's accession process will not be restarted and requesting the EU not to list Iceland any longer as one of its candidate countries. Furthermore that the new policy supersedes any commitments made by the previous government which applied for EU membership in 2009. According to a statement issued by Iceland's Foreign Ministry the move followed extensive communications with the EU over the past weeks. 

The government has been criticised by the opposition for unilaterally deciding to end Iceland's EU accession process without the approval of the parliament and without consulting the parliament's Foreign Committee.

Furthermore, the opposition says a resolution approved in parliament in the summer of 2009, paving the way for an application to join the EU, is still in full force and that the government is therefore bound by it.

Not bound by the resolution from 2009

Gunnlaugsson, however, says his government is not bound by the resolution from 2009 as it only contains the political will of parliament at that time and not the current one elected in 2013. Gunnlaugsson adds that it's not realistic to expect a government entirely against joining the EU to nevertheless carry out accession talks with the bloc.

"Lets not forget that being an EU candidate country is a statement that the country in question wants to join the EU. Icelanders don't want to do that and the same goes for the government. Therefore it would be dishnoest to maintain the candidacy status. Our position is clear: We don't want to join the European Union and therefore we don't want to seek EU membership," Gunnlaugsson furthermore says to Morgunblaðið.

The FM fully competent to represent Iceland

Professor of Law Björg Thorarensen confirms to Morgunblaðið that the government has the right to take the decision in question and is not bound by the resolution from 2009.

However, she says it would have been appropriate proceedings by the government to inform the Foreign Committee of the parliament of its decision and the correspondence with the EU in advance. After all in her opinion the decision regards a major foreign affairs matter.

"The Foreign Minister is fully competent to represent the Icelandic state when communicating with international institutions such as the EU. The EU must therefore consider that the Foreign Minister is in full authority. It is also clear the government has majority support in parliament. Regarding this the Foreign Minister has the formal authority," Thorarensen says.

The EU application dead for a long time

Birgir Ármannsson, chairman of the Foreign Committee of the parliament, however, disagrees that the government should have consulted with the committee. He says the letters to the EU do not constitute a change of policy but simply a formal clarification of the policy which the government has carried out ever since it took power in 2013 and which has been discussed in parliament and the committee numerous times since.

"This constitutes first and foremost a confirmation of the reality that the EU application from 2009 has been a dead document for a long time."

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