Iceland review - 2014, Page 68

66 ICELAND REVIEW
accession for a while now. About one-third have a positive opin-
ion of eu accession, many with particular reference to the special
provisions. Finally there is the one-fifth who are waiting to make
up their mind.
eu representatives have long been well aware of icelandic
attitudes towards special provisions in the areas of fisheries and
agriculture, as they are mostly comparable to precedents found in
current existing accession treaties with other member countries.
knowing this, the eu agreed to warmly welcome iceland’s acces-
sion application.
over the last year iceland-eu relations have moved in several
new directions. The foreign minister tried again and again to
antagonize eu representatives, among other things by calling
european funding to iceland “bribe money.” Apparently the plan
was to get the eu representatives to make the first move in dis-
solving iceland’s accession negotiations. of course the eu nego-
tiators saw through this and refused to play the game.
tHree oPtions
At the beginning of 2014 the icelandic parliament debated a
report from the university of iceland on the accession bid, its
progress and the outlook on the europe question. The gov-
ernment, it was said, had three main options it could pursue.
Firstly it could put the whole issue to one side and wait for the
european union representatives to get restless and start push-
ing for evidence of iceland’s progress and intentions. Secondly
the government could have formally notified the eu that the
icelandic side intended to put the accession talks on hold for a
while. in iceland it seemed most people expected one of these
two options to be chosen, and it would probably not have proved
particularly controversial. Some claim there has been pressure
from the eu on the icelanders for results, but it is clear that the
icelandic government neither needed nor wanted to let foreign
agents run the show.
The third possible option was the one taken. The foreign
minister made a proposal at the end of February on behalf
of the government that the accession negotiations be perma-
nently dissolved without delay. The proposal was put forward
to parliament before the debates on the above-mentioned
report had finished. it was apparent that the government was
trying to rush the issue through parliament. All this prompted
strong reactions throughout society, including among employ-
ers’ associations and employees’ associations.
There is no doubt that the government and its ruling coali-
tion parties were surprised by how harsh, loud and widespread
the public backlash has been.
it has done nothing to lighten the mood, or to clear things
up, that unsettling flaws were revealed in the report which
accompanied the foreign minister’s parliamentary proposal.
He was forced to take it back for corrections.
This resulted in something of a loss of face, and the same
happened because of strange and unnecessary comments from
several coalition Mps. protests were arranged outside parlia-
ment and the number of people who turned out took everyone
by surprise, including the protest organizers.
tHree HyPotHeses
it is clear that the government has a secure majority in the
icelandic parliament to push its proposals through. it also
seems clear that a majority of supporters of both parties sup-
port the government on this issue. on the other hand, the
unexpected protests show that the government’s methods and
presentation cause many people surprise, consternation and
lead to protest.
Therefore many are asking right now: Why did the gov-
ernment choose the option which would most likely stir up
the hardest criticism, society-wide debate and protests on the
politicS
Stockholm, Sweden. frankfurt, Germany.