Independence Party urges no vote on renewed EU membership talks

In an article published by mbl.is, Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir urges voters to reject a mandate for the Icelandic government to reopen European Union membership negotiations. She argues that Iceland can remain independent while actively participating in international cooperation.

Hafsteinsdóttir writes that Icelanders are voting on the country’s future as a free and sovereign nation. Iceland’s independence, she says, is the result of generations of struggle by people who knew what it was like for decisions about Icelandic affairs to be made by others outside the country.

For more than 1,000 years, Icelanders have preserved their language, culture and awareness of their shared land and destiny, she writes. On that foundation, Iceland has built one of the world’s most successful societies by many key measures.

That success did not come from isolating the country, she says. Iceland has traded with other nations, participated in international cooperation and pursued those activities as an independent country and on its own terms.

“That is the cause the Independence Party stands for today,” Hafsteinsdóttir writes.

A yes vote would begin formal membership process

She says she respects those planning to vote yes, arguing that everyone shares the wish for a good and secure life in Iceland. However, she rejects the idea that a no vote reflects fear or distrust of the Icelandic people.

The vote, she says, is not about simply obtaining information. A yes vote would give the government a mandate to reopen membership negotiations based on Iceland’s 2009 application.

Such negotiations would primarily concern how an applicant country adopts and adjusts to the EU’s existing regulatory framework, she writes. What remains unclear, she argues, is which outcome in the negotiations the government would consider unacceptable.

Hafsteinsdóttir highlights fisheries as a particular example. The government has said that Iceland’s people will retain ownership of the resource and benefit from it, but she says this does not answer the central question of who would have the final authority over fisheries management.

Under the EU’s common fisheries policy, protection of marine resources falls under a shared policy, she writes. No clear statement has been given that permanent Icelandic final decision making would be a non negotiable condition for the government.

She also questions promises of lower interest rates, lower prices and greater stability. A yes vote would not lower the next instalment, abolish indexation or reduce interest rates and inflation, she says. These are tasks Iceland must address itself.

Iceland should remain independent, she argues

Hafsteinsdóttir acknowledges that the world has changed but says Iceland’s response should neither be to withdraw into isolation nor to treat EU membership as the answer to every threat.

She says Iceland’s security is based on NATO, defence cooperation with the United States, Nordic cooperation and strong ties with Europe. The country’s economic interests, she writes, are based on the European Economic Area, free trade agreements and the efforts of Icelandic businesses.

“Sovereignty is not a dusty concept but a tool of governance,” Hafsteinsdóttir writes. It allows Iceland to negotiate good agreements, protect its resources, create value and decide which path suits the country.

Icelanders have never had to choose between being a proud, independent nation and an active participant in the international community, she concludes. They can be both.