MPs question renewed push for EEA Protocol 35

Two Icelandic MPs say renewed emphasis on Protocol 35 to the European Economic Area Agreement may be politically motivated, and question why the issue has been prioritised now. They made the comments on Morgunblaðið’s Dagmál programme.

Sigurður Örn Hilmarsson, an MP for the Independence Party, asked why the issue was being put on the agenda now. He said the foreign minister had highlighted the protocol immediately after the referendum on the EU.

Sigurður Örn said the matter cleared the parliamentary foreign affairs committee last December but had not reached a second reading. Despite warnings that ESA would take legal action, the government had not completed its handling of the bill, he said. Now, he added, it had suddenly been given priority.

Sigríður Andersen, chair of the Centre Party parliamentary group, agreed and described the debate as “political fuss”. She also said the timing of ESA’s legal action raised questions. If Iceland’s alleged breach was as serious as had been suggested, she said, the agency should have taken the case much earlier.

EEA agreement is not a constitution

Sigríður also criticised the tone of the debate about the EEA Agreement, saying it was unnecessary to discuss it with “such excessive reverence”.

“The EEA Agreement is, of course, just an agreement, and it has many merits, but it is certainly not a constitution,” she said.

She said she believed the agreement suited Iceland and that cooperation had mostly worked well. However, she said people should be able to point to its shortcomings without being accused of opposing its protection.

“I hear few politicians say that the Constitution should be protected, but protecting the EEA Agreement is always a priority,” she said.

Sigríður warned against cooperation developing to the point where Iceland could not raise objections or make its own demands. “It must not become an abusive relationship between Iceland and the European Union,” she said.