EU leaders approve Iceland’s candidacy

EU accepts Iceland as fourth candidate for EU membership, but issues warning over Icesave dispute.

EU leaders today decided to open accession talks with Iceland, a decision that means Iceland now joins Croatia, Turkey and Macedonia as an official candidate for membership of the EU.

The decision, which coincides with Iceland’s celebration of its national day, is based on an opinion issued by the European Commission in February.

Both sides will now prepare their negotiation positions, with talks expected to start in the first half of next year.

Össur Skarphédinsson, Iceland’s foreign minister, welcomed the decision, emphasising that “our home is Europe” and that membership of the EU “will certainly serve our mutual interests.”

“I see the EU’s unanimous support for opening negotiations as a vote of confidence in Iceland as a solid European partner,” Skarphédinsson said.

Today’s summit declaration contained a warning to Iceland to meet “existing obligations” under the European Economic Area, a reference to compensation claims by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom over a failed Icelandic bank, Icesave. The Dutch in particular accuse Iceland of stalling on a settlement, a charge that is vigorously contested by Icelandic diplomats.

At the end of May, the body supervising implementation of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which links the EU and non-members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, warned Iceland that it was violating EFTA requirements in the matter.

Both the Dutch and the UK governments have said that they will not block Iceland’s accession process over the Icesave issue. However, a member state diplomat also suggested today that the problem needed to be resolved before Iceland would be allowed to become a member.

Iran

EU leaders also decided at today’s summit that their foreign ministers should, by mid-July, draft a set of new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme. EU foreign ministers had already decided on the need for extra measures.

“New restrictive measures have become inevitable,” they said in a statement.

The summit conclusions set out areas for such sanctions, which will go beyond those adopted by the United Nations Security Council last week. These areas are trade and trade insurance, the financial sector, the transport sector, and the country’s energy sector.

EU leaders also decided that new visa bans and asset freezes should be imposed on members of the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps, which has wide-ranging economic and financial interests.