Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.08.2010, Blaðsíða 8

8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2010 Msn, that whole EU debate is getting pretty crazy over here. If only you English speakers
could read some of what's being written in Icelandic about the topic - it's actually kinda
scary.
News | Kreppa In The International Eye: July
To EU Or Not To EU
Iceland’s EU accession talks com-
menced on July 27, and Bloomberg
implied that they were fast tracked to
July primarily due to increased pres-
sure from Britain and the Netherlands
to settle the Icesave issue. “EU govern-
ments sped the talks from a planned
September or October start to counter
the growing anti-EU mood in Iceland.
Opposition to EU membership rose to 60
percent in June from 54 percent in a No-
vember [according to a Capacent Gallup
poll].” And although the Icesave issue
is not formally being discussed during
the EU accession talks, Deutsche Welle
points out that, “it could end up being
a stumbling block to eventual member-
ship. Fulfilment of EFTA rules is neces-
sary to qualify for EU membership, and
those rules require Iceland to resolve its
debt...”
On this first day of talks, Foreign
Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson told
Bloomberg that he felt that the Icelan-
dic people would support joining the EU
once the $ 5.1 billion dispute is solved.
He also told the foreign media that the
Icelandic fisheries sector—in particular,
as regards quotas and fishing bans—is
not up for discussion. In an interview
with Deutsche Welle, France's EU Min-
ister Pierre Lellouche said, “You have to
want to join Europe. I don't have the im-
pression from the opinion polls that the
Icelanders themselves are very favour-
able: that’s the problem.” EU ministers
appear wary of Iceland repeating Nor-
way’s two-time rejection.
Icesave issue aside, to join the EU
Iceland may have to adapt fishery po-
lices—at least meet EU halfway—and will
probably have to pack in whaling alto-
gether. It is hard to imagine that other
major EU fishing nations such as Britain,
Ireland and Spain will accept an ‘opt-out’
on the fisheries front. At a June meeting
of the International Whaling Commis-
sion, Kristján Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur
and anti-EU campaigner, mentioned
that he really didn’t see the difference.
“Whales are just another fish,” he told
the AFP. During the meeting, a proposal
to reduce Iceland, Japan and Norway’s
hunt was put forward, but talks broke
down early. Kristján, who maintains that
whaling is an integral part of Iceland’s
heritage and economy, recently com-
mented to EUbusiness webzine that Ice-
land should not enter the EU, not only in
the interest of whale hunting, but to pro-
tect Iceland’s fishing industry in general.
FISHupdate.com noted that “there will
be demands from some member states
for the country to abandon its contro-
versial whaling policy, which allows it to
take 150 fin whales a year supposedly
for scientific research.”
In a similar vein, a July FT article
stated: “To qualify for EU membership,
Iceland would have to participate in the
bloc’s common fisheries policy, which
sets national quotas for how much each
species can be caught. Rule-bending
is rampant. France, Greece, Italy, Malta
and Spain will each receive a repri-
mand…from the European Commis-
sion for failing to curb unsustainable
fishing.” After decades making their
own decisions, one wonders how well
an outside authority will go down with
Iceland’s fishermen. FISHupdate.com
also pointed out in July that “the Irish,
backed by at least eight EU countries
including Britain, have made a formal
complaint about Iceland’s unilateral
mackerel quota and warn that it could
damage its bid to join the EU.”
Could this be a sign of things to
come?
Just a few days ago, Timmo Summa,
head of the European Commission Del-
egation in Iceland, in an interview with
euinside, a Bulgarian website, said,
“This is going to be a challenge for the
EU. To the East people sit on the nego-
tiation table, ready to sign everything
just because they want the money of
the German taxpayers. The Icelanders
are totally different.” The EU, it seems,
expects Iceland to pursue a hard line
at the negotiating table. Summa added,
“We still have no negotiations but every-
one knows that we do not like opt-outs.”
On the surface, for the moment, it ap-
pears this will be unavoidable. “Iceland
will be subject to exactly the same kind
of scrutiny and seriousness as any other
candidate," Steven Vanackere, Bel-
gium's foreign minister told Deutsche
Welle.
Another contending issue would be
the EU Commission’s rules on the free
movement of capital which, among oth-
er things, would allow European com-
panies to buy up Icelandic competitors.
Somehow, looking at the current Alþingi
debate—in particular the issue of foreign
ownership in natural resources—I can’t
quite see Iceland agreeing on changing
its laws to fit the EU’s purposes. One
of Iceland’s EU advocates’ main argu-
ments to join the EU is, of course, the
stabilisation of the króna and the econ-
omy. It doesn’t seem likely that you can
have your cake and eat it too, but you
never know.
When the FT questioned Páll Vil-
hjálmsson, leader of the anti-EU move-
ment Heimssýn, why Iceland applied to
join the EU in the first place, he said,
“The short answer is that we had a na-
tional nervous breakdown.” And if the
last months of the Icesave negotiations
are anything to go by, fast track or no
fast track, don’t expect Iceland to join
the EU anytime soon.
“Ok Bob now please don’t get
angry with what I’m about to
tell you...”
One of the more fascinating
things about my wife (other than she has
never cooked a fish in her entire life) is that
she has an innate ability to determine when
I’m going to blow my top in bilious fury.
Granted, I do seem to lose my temper 47
times on a bad day, so she’s probably had a
fair amount of practice.
But right now, I don’t know what she’s
talking about. We’re standing outside a
branch of Kaupthing (there is no way I’m
calling it fucking Arion bank), having just
seen a customer service drone. We’re
currently moving house, and we need some
cash to help cover our deposit.
So we went to the bank to ask for an
overdraft. But Sigga is worried as—like any
good Icelander—she already has loans and
overdrafts up the wazoo. “Well why don’t I
ask for one for my bank account,” I say. And
why not? I’ve lived in Iceland for over three
years, I’m married to an Icelander, I’ve got
no black mark against me, and I’ve still got
two years on my residency permit. It should
take five minutes, job done. Then we can all
go and eat gold-plated pancakes and jewel
encrusted hotdogs afterwards.
Only it never quite worked out like that.
Sigga leads the conversation with the drone
as I try not to look like some sort of mute
psychopath.
The drone leaves her seat to discuss
the request with the manager. After a
few minutes she returns whereupon
the conversation almost imperceptibly
changes tone. Then as quick as it started,
the meeting is over. ‘What, have we got
the overdraft?’ I ask, but Sigga is already
pushing me out of my chair going “I’ll speak
to you outside.”
Once outside she tells me everything.
When the drone returned, she said that
they would not be prepared to give me an
overdraft. But they were more than willing
to increase HER overdraft to nearly double
the current level, no questions asked. No
real reason was given. As the meeting was
wrapping up, Sigga asked her ‘Would my
husband have gotten an overdraft if he was
Icelandic?’
And the drone replied ‘Yes, he would.’
To her credit, she immediately
apologised, stating that she had a foreign
husband and this also happens to him to.
Oh well, that’s all right then.
And you know what? Nothing about this
doesn’t surprises me in the slightest. When
you have a former chairman and CEOs
as fugitives, getting arrested all the time,
throwing money around in a incestuous
circle-jerk of elephantine proportions, or
illegally giving out loans in foreign currency
(or in the case of Íslandsbanki, to children),
then what’s a little case of spiteful decision
making as my foreign blood deems me
‘Untrustworthy’?
So now I’m looking to change my bank
account. But where do I place my meagre
funds? Are there ANY independent, friendly
banks that don’t pay their bosses bonuses
in the form of all the first-born children from
the village? If there is any bank that wants
my business then contact the office and I’ll
send my wallet around immediately.
GRRRRR!
Angry Opinion | Bob Cluness
“At a June meeting of the
International Whaling
Commission, Kristján
Loftsson, CEO of Hvalur
and anti-EU campaigner,
mentioned that he really
didn’t see the difference.
“Whales are just another
fish,” he told the AFP.”
MARC vINCENz
JEAN-ETIENNE MINH-dUy POIRRIER
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