Ministry raises estimate for Iceland’s EU membership fees

Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs has revised its estimate of the country’s potential annual membership fees to the European Union from 2 to 7 billion Icelandic krónur to 8 to 14 billion, mbl.is reports.

The ministry published the correction on Tuesday. Its original calculations, set out in an April memorandum, formed the basis for reports by parliamentary committees.

The revised memorandum was sent to the committees shortly after the ministry published the correction. It said the document had been prepared at the ministry’s initiative, while acknowledging that media coverage had prompted the review.

The correction mainly concerns the cost of Iceland’s participation in the European Economic Area, which the ministry had assumed would disappear if Iceland joined the EU. That amount was listed as 8 billion krónur, while contributions to EU cooperation programmes were counted twice. Only about 2 billion krónur should actually be deducted, according to the revised calculation.

The ministry has still not published a gross estimate of Iceland’s potential EU membership payments. The Taxpayers’ Association estimates gross payments at 43 to 53 billion krónur and the net cost at 23 to 44 billion, largely depending on financial contributions from the EU to projects in Iceland. Disagreement remains over the likely payments from EU funds and which comparison countries and assumptions should be used.

Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir entered the dispute on Tuesday, saying that a figure of 50 billion krónur was far from accurate. She said the correct annual figure was about 7 to 8 billion krónur.