Iceland faced blunt EU response over live animal imports

Icelandic negotiators received a harsh response during European Union accession talks over the country’s insistence on special rules for importing live animals, mbl.is reported.

The delegation pointed out that Iceland is an island with a unique disease status, similar to New Zealand and Australia.

“We don’t want bloody New Zealand or Australia in Europe,” the delegation was told.

Halldór Runólfsson, a former chief veterinary officer and former director of the agriculture office at the Ministry of Industries and Innovation, recalled the exchange in an interview with Morgunblaðið.

He said claims that an exemption for importing live animals would be easy for Iceland to secure do not match his experience. Instead, he said, the issue was one of the most difficult matters in the negotiations during the government led by Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.