EU accession negotiations with Iceland kick off in Brussels
The first meeting of the Accession Conference with Iceland held in Brussels today at Ministerial level decided the opening of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the accession of Iceland to the European Union (EU).
27 July 2010, 12:00am
Charlot Zahra
Charlot Zahra
2 min read
This step followed the decision taken by EU leaders during the 17 June 2010 Summit that accession negotiations with the tiny island should be opened.
During the IGC, the EU delegation recalled that Iceland had been “cooperating extensively with the EU across a broad range of areas over the last forty years, as a member of the EEA or applying the Schengen acquis, which meant that Iceland had already adopted “a significant part” of EU law.
In this regard, the EU underlined that today's IGC marked another milestone in the evolution of the common relationship with Iceland and that the EU “looked forward to further intensifying the already well-established ties”.
During this meeting, the EU presented the negotiating framework to Iceland, which had been agreed by the EU’s General Affairs Council yesterday.
The negotiating framework took account of “the experience of the fifth enlargement and the evolving acquis, and duly reflects Iceland's own merits and specific characteristics”.
The development of sufficient administrative and judicial capacity, the EU insisted, was “key in fulfilling all obligations stemming from membership”.
Furthermore, the EU underlined that on the path towards accession, Iceland needed “to continue its efforts to align its legislation with the acquis and to ensure its full implementation and enforcement.
“Serious efforts would be required in particular in the areas of fisheries, agriculture and rural development, environment, free movement of capital and financial services, in order to meet the accession criteria,” the EU warned.
To this effect, the EU explained how it would “closely monitor” Iceland’s progress in all areas. The regular review procedure aimed at assessing candidate countries' progress towards membership would from now on apply to Iceland as well.
The EU delegation was headed by Belgian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Steven Vanackere, while the Icelandic delegation was led by Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphedinsson..
