Iceland lawmaker urges government to withdraw EU membership application

Framsóknarflokkurinn MP Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson says it would be logical for the government to take the initiative to withdraw Iceland’s application for membership of the European Union, mbl.is reports.

He said this would return the issue to the position it occupied before the same government unexpectedly put it on the political agenda.

“Before the issue was put on the agenda, I think most Icelanders regarded there as being no active application. Then, last summer, the application was said to be valid. The government decided to put the issue on the agenda and asked the nation for guidance,” Sigurður Ingi told mbl.is.

“If the result had been 50.1 per cent in favour, a negotiating committee would presumably be being appointed today. But the result was no, and then I think it is logical for the government to take the initiative to withdraw the application and put the issue back where it was.”

Sigurður Ingi, who is also a member of the Icelandic Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said the issue had been discussed by the committee but that no conclusion had been reached.

“It was simply a polite meeting,” he said.

Protocol 35 intended to strengthen EEA agreement

Asked about Protocol 35 and whether the Progressive Party would support its signing, Sigurður Ingi said the aim was to strengthen the European Economic Area agreement by ensuring that there were no unresolved issues connected to it.

“Protocol 35 certainly is one of those issues,” he said.

“I have said this many times, and in discussions here in Parliament, that we looked for ways forward in the government from 2017 until 2024, in different ways. First, we tried to defend our position. Then, once the Supreme Court ruling had been issued, we tried to find the most acceptable solution and have therefore advocated this in order to strengthen the agreement.”

He said it remained necessary to see what approach the government would take on the issue.