Cripes, things are moving in Brussels

When events like this are taking place in the European Parliament you can imagine the stench of fear in the corridors

Iceland: Delusion vs Reality

There are two views of the possibility of Iceland joining the EU. One is from Brussels/Strasbourg typified by the following release from the EPP,

On Thursday, MEPs supported a Resolution on Iceland's Progress Report 2010, concerning the country's EU membership bid, by a large majority. Iceland is already part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and its legislation is to a high extent aligned with that of the European Union. For the moment, the screening process is still in progress and the first negotiation chapters might be opened during the summer.


The Rapporteur, Cristian Preda MEP, welcomed the reforms increasing the independence of the judiciary, while stressing the need for a thorough implementation of these measures. He also noted that he hopes for a positive result to the Icesave referendum this Sunday, allowing the negotiations to concentrate on substantive issues instead of bilateral conflicts.

MEPs also encouraged Iceland to keep up a good pace in the ongoing negotiations on mackerel quotas, in particular with the goal of reaching "a Resolution of the mackerel dispute based on realistic proposals which safeguard the future of the stock, protect and maintain jobs in the pelagic fishery and ensure a long-term, sustainable fishery."

Here is the voting in the Parliament, pretty conclusive, No?

So it is apparant from this that the accession of Iceland to the EU is a done deal...

Or not, if we look at the reality,

The vast majority of Icelanders are still opposed to joining the European Union according to a new opinion poll published today, March 17, in the business newspaper Viðskiptablaðið. 55.7 percent oppose EU membership while 30 percent favour the step. 14.2 percent are uncertain.


A recent poll by Capacent published on March 10 put the opposition to EU membership at 50.5 percent, the support at 31.4 percent and the uncertain at 18 percent.

The last poll before that was published by Capacent in July 2010 putting the opposition at 60 percent, the support at 26 percent and those uncertain at 14 percent.
Every poll published in Iceland since August 2009, made by different polling companies, has shown a large majority of Icelanders against joining the EU and only about 1/3 in favour.

They are desperate aren't they.

At least they have a House for it

Carl Bildt has warned that,

Europe risks becoming a "museum" and "irrelevant".

Which is rather charming as the Telegraph reports today on the old story of the House of European History, where no doubt the European Union could comfotrably ensconce itself.

I have to say I colour myself surprised that the Telegraph have run this story now, three weeks after the Express with nothing different in the take other than the quoted member is a Belgian colleague of the Tories rather than UKIP, as we picked up the story back in 2009 via Bruno himself.

Worse still is that he allows the European Parliament to get away with a low figure for the annual costs, as since the Express story ran on the 6th March more figures have come to light, as I reported last week,

The £53.2 million start up cost of the museum and £6.3 million in estimated annual costs, not including staffing, have led the parliament's budget committee to complain "there is still no overview of the global cost of the project available".

There is an overview, they have admitted that the costs will be 13.45 Million Euros (about £11.75 million pounds per annum).