Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.04.2015, Side 8

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In July of 2009, Iceland applied to become a member of the European Union. On March 12 of this year, the Foreign Min-ister of Iceland, Gunnar Bragi
Sveinsson, delivered a letter in person
to the European Union saying that it
was the will of the Icelandic govern-
ment that Iceland should not be con-
sidered an applicant country anymore.
To which the EU has replied with a
puzzled: "Uhh...?"
What's the confusion? It seems
pretty clear to me.
The confusion stems from two
things. First, the original application
was made after the Icelandic parlia-
ment passed a resolution authorising
the Icelandic government to apply for
EU membership. Most people who are
not members of the two parties current-
ly in government have said that a formal
withdrawal would require parliament
to make another resolution. Second...
well, the whole thing is a bit weird.
It's not like the letter was written
with paint on a whale carcass. It
wasn't, right? Right?!
You would think that something as
big and important as whether Iceland
completes its talks to join the Euro-
pean Union or not would require some
big and important meeting. Instead
the Foreign Minister dropped the let-
ter off while on his way to a meeting in
Slovakia. He stopped in Riga to meet
with Latvia's foreign minister Edgars
Rinkevics, whose name happens to be
the fourth most common mispronun-
ciation of "Reykjavík."
Ah good, so I'm not the only one
who thought it was called Edgars.
It was not an entirely random person
to give the letter to, as Latvia currently
holds the presidency of the Council of
the European Union. However, it was a
pretty random person to give it to, as the
Council of the European Union is es-
sentially the upper chamber of the EU's
legislature. So it is a bit like if Puerto
Rico's Secretary of State wrote a letter
saying that Puerto Rico was not inter-
ested in being a state and gave it to the
senator whose job it is to sit next to Vice
President Biden. Sure, the Senate would
have something to do with it eventually,
but they are hardly the first people you
would contact.
Hold on a second... Iceland is the
EU's Puerto Rico?
Sort of, yes. Iceland is a member of
the European Economic Area, along
with the EU countries, plus Norway
and Liechtenstein. That means Iceland
is a part of the EU's single market. It
also means that Iceland is among the
countries which, although outside the
EU still have to adopt almost all EU
legislation. The exception is laws on ag-
riculture and fishing, in case you were
interested.
Agricultural and fishing laws are
what I read to my kids at night.
Fishing laws are fundamental to
Icelandic opposition to joining the EU.
Fishing makes up about a quarter of
the total economy. Icelanders worry
that joining the EU would mean losing
control of Icelandic fisheries as well as
compromising the nation's indepen-
dence.
Foreigners should keep their
dirty hands off stinking Icelandic
fish!
Ideally for Icelanders, foreign-
ers should pay money to eat fresh and
fragrant Icelandic fish as tourists in
Iceland. Fishing and tourism are the
country's two biggest industries, and
both benefit from the free flow of goods
within the European Economic Area
and the free movement of people with-
in the Schengen Area. Few Icelanders
wish to see Iceland leave either. How-
ever, because Iceland does not have EU
membership, it has little say in writing
the laws which it is treaty-bound to
adopt.
Well, I guess if you're making lots
of money compromising your
independence is okay.
Iceland was a colony of Denmark
for centuries. Not being responsible for
its own laws is not a new thing for Ice-
land. But this lack of control sometimes
causes friction in the Icelandic govern-
ment. One recent example was when
Sigrún Magnúsdóttir, Minister for the
Environment and Natural Resources,
idly wondered whether perhaps dif-
ferent words could be used to make
EU regulations milder. Which caused
something of a backlash and brought
about one of the finer headlines of re-
cent times: "EU Directives Are Not Po-
ems."
Which explains why I got no-
where on dates by reciting "Air-
borne Noise Emitted by House-
hold Appliances Directive."
The Icelandic Association of Trans-
lators and Interpreters released a state-
ment saying that the Minister had "at-
tacked the professional honour and
integrity" of translators who work for
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs trans-
lating the laws, regulations and direc-
tives that Iceland adopts from the EU.
Gauti Kristmannsson, Professor of
Translation Studies at the University of
Iceland, added that it was striking that
the boss of those translators, Foreign
Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, had
not defended his subordinates in his
ministry. But perhaps he has written
a letter in their defence and left it with
a bathroom attendant in the Vatican,
hoping it will be delivered to the right
people.
8
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 4 — 2015
So What's This Letter To The European
Union I Keep Hearing About?
Words by Kári Tulinius @Kattullus
Illustration by Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
ICELAND
4 DUMMIES
Meanwhile, the winter is—fingers
crossed—nearing its end now. It was so
fierce that Icelanders have considered
naming it, an old Icelandic tradition that
dates as far back as 976. With a storm
hitting Iceland on average every three
days this winter, frontrunners include
”Vindaveturinn mikli” (“The Great
Windy Winter”) and “Rokrassgat”
(“Windy Butthole”).
As the snow melts, our tourism
season will get going again, with a pre-
dicted 1.17 million tourists this year.
With that number expected to grow
to 1.45 million in 2017, the Icelandic
Tourism Research Centre reckons that
Iceland will need to hire more foreign
workers in order to keep up with the
rapidly growing tourism industry.
Speaking of which, it looks like
the train station for the proposed rail
route between Keflavík and Reykja-
vík has been drawn up, meaning every
traveller's dream for easy transport be-
tween the centre of Reykjavík and Ke-
flavík airport is one step closer to reality.
History buffs will be amused to
find out that “hot, filthy and crazy”
are three adjectives that have haunted
Icelanders for a millennium. Thousand-
year-old Arabic texts have revealed last
month that while Vikings were de-
scribed as the “filthiest of Allah’s
creatures,” noted Arab scholar Ah-
mad ibn Fadlan admitted he had “nev-
er seen more perfect physiques
than theirs.” So that’s something!
Still, we might not be able to hold
on to that perfect physique title for
very long after Dunkin’ Donuts, an-
nounced last week that negotiations
were underway to bring the American
Donut Church to Iceland. Mmmm, do-
nuts.
Iceland | The EU debacle
By Nanna Árnadóttir
NEWS
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