Iceland has nothing to fear from ESA case, says party leader

Progressive Party chair Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir says Iceland has nothing to fear from the European Free Trade Association Surveillance Authority’s (ESA) legal action over Protocol 35 to the European Economic Area Agreement. She told mbl.is that neither the case nor its timing came as a surprise.

ESA announced that it is bringing infringement proceedings against Iceland before the EFTA Court. The authority says Icelandic law does not adequately ensure that EEA rules incorporated into national law remain in force when they conflict with other Icelandic rules.

“I believe it is right that this long-running legal dispute finally receives a substantive ruling from the EFTA Court, and Iceland has nothing to fear in that regard,” Alfreðsdóttir said.

ESA says it first raised concerns about Iceland’s implementation of Protocol 35 in 2012. It cited Supreme Court rulings that, in its view, indicated individuals and businesses could not be sure their rights under incorporated EEA rules would remain in force if later Icelandic laws conflicted with them.

Alfreðsdóttir said it was wrong to dismiss Protocol 35 as a technical formality, arguing that the dispute concerns the constitutional foundations of the EEA Agreement. She said she strongly supports the agreement and believes it is important to Iceland, but that the courts must clarify how the protocol should be understood and how it fits with the Icelandic Constitution.

She said she had the impression there was pressure to push the matter through Parliament. Now that ESA has referred the case to the EFTA Court, she said, the Icelandic government should present its arguments and Parliament should wait for the court’s ruling before enacting the disputed priority rule.