Minister withholds details of Iceland’s defence against ESA case

Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir did not say whether Iceland has begun preparing its defence against a lawsuit by the EFTA Surveillance Authority over Protocol 35 to the European Economic Area Agreement, mbl.is reported.

In parliament, Sigríður Á. Andersen, chair of the Centre Party’s parliamentary group, asked whether work on Iceland’s written submission had started, who was preparing it and who would serve on the state’s legal team. She also asked whether the minister had consulted the foreign affairs committee, as previously announced, and said she believed the matter should be discussed in parliament itself.

Gunnarsdóttir did not answer those questions directly. She said she hoped her representatives would speak with the committee in the coming days, and that she hoped parliament would pass her bill on Protocol 35 before Iceland’s deadline to submit its written arguments on November 30.

“Of course, we will do what is necessary to defend Iceland,” the minister said, without explaining what that would involve or who would be appointed. She rejected Andersen’s suggestion that she step aside and assign the defence to another minister. She did not answer whether the authority might withdraw its lawsuit if the bill became law in time.

The defence would not necessarily have to start from scratch. In 2020 and 2021, then Foreign Minister Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, with cabinet approval, sent four letters setting out detailed arguments against the authority’s claims. Those arguments have never been submitted to the EFTA Court.