EU to play Iceland card to prop up Lisbon Treaty

Iceland will be fast-tracked into the European Union if its government applies to join this year, an unnamed senior Brussels official was quoted by three major British newspapers as saying today (30 January). 

The European Commission is preparing itself for a membership bid by Reykjavik, but a potential application depends on the outcome of a snap general election expected this spring, the reports say. 

"I can confirm that the quote attributed to Commissioner Rehn in the Guradian article is correct. It has no implications for Croatia's accession course to the EU, which is well on track. Croatia will be judged upon its own merit," Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson for EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, told EurActiv.

The conservative government in Reykjavik collapsed this week, after unprecedented riots in the capital forced the government to resign, thus becoming the first executive to fall as a result of the financial crisis. A caretaker centre-left government was put in place until new elections, which will probably be held in May. 

Recently, Rehn said that should Iceland file an application for EU membership, all he would have to do is ask his fellow commissioner Siim Kallas, responsible for administrative affairs, to add "a couple of experts on fishing" to the negotiating team. 

Despite Iceland's hard-hit economy, the EU does not consider the Arctic country to be "impoverished", Rehn recently told EurActiv in an exclusive interview. 

"It has serious difficulties, but it has plenty of national wealth, and it is without any doubt a democratic European country, with very strong democratic roots. If Iceland were to apply for EU membership, I would expect that the accession negotiations would not take terribly long. Iceland is already a member of the European Economic Area, which covers roughly two thirds of the acquis communautaire. I usually say to my friends in South Eastern Europe that there is no shortcut to EU membership, and that is true. But in the case of Iceland, this EEA agreement serves as a shortcut in the negotiations," said Rehn. 

The commissioner did not rule out Iceland joining even before Croatia does, and hinted that he would like to see a competition develop between the two countries to become the 28th EU member. 

EU to use Iceland as piggy-back to break Lisbon Treaty deadlock? 

Croatia's bid was unexpectedly boosted by EU leaders at the December summit in Brussels. The decision to accommodate the Irish government requires that the Lisbon Treaty be amended to help convince Irish people to say 'yes' in a new referendum. A new round of ratifications would be required, unless the changes are incorporated as an annex to a future accession treaty instead. As French President Sarkozy said at the time, these could be introduced with Croatia's EU accession treaty "in 2010 or 2011". 

But Croatia's accession negotiations are blocked at present over a territorial conflict with EU member Slovenia (EurActiv 27/01/09). In this context, "a bid by Iceland could play the role of a spare wheel" to help push through the battered Lisbon Treaty, a source from DG Enlargement told EurActiv. 

Should the countries join together, Croatia will be the 28th member, as in Croatian the country name starts with 'h' (Hrvatska), which is alphabetically just before 'i' for 'Island', the source jokingly added.