Columnist says referendum result is being distorted

In an opinion column published by mbl.is, Ögmundur Jónasson argues that the outcome of a referendum on restarting European Union accession talks is being misrepresented as a call for closer cooperation with the EU through the European Economic Area Agreement.

Jónasson says it was sensible earlier this year to set aside a proposal concerning Protocol 35 to the EEA Agreement. Had the referendum led to renewed accession talks and eventual EU membership, he writes, the protocol would have become irrelevant because Iceland would have accepted the EU’s judicial authority in full.

Instead, he says, a majority rejected moving further under the EU’s system of governance and judicial authority.

Jónasson says the three women who are sometimes referred to as “the Valkyries” then held a press conference, claiming that voters had in reality called for closer cooperation with the EU on the basis of the EEA Agreement. They said they would respond by first enacting Protocol 35.

But the referendum question was: “Should Iceland resume negotiations on membership of the European Union?” Jónasson notes that it made no mention of the EEA, let alone military cooperation, which the foreign minister said it was obvious voters wanted to strengthen considerably.

He says the referendum debate did clearly show that some people believe Iceland has what it needs through the EEA Agreement, including access to the European market and cooperation in various fields. At the same time, others argued that the agreement had restricted democracy and brought profit-seeking interests too close to the country’s social infrastructure.

Jónasson says Protocol 35 would move Iceland further under this system. Enacting it would also reduce the scope Icelandic courts currently have to influence the boundary between the judicial authority of the EU and Iceland, where the dividing line is unclear.

“Were we asking for this scope to be narrowed or eliminated?” he asks. “Each person must answer for themselves.”