EU urges Iceland to win back public over membership

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union launched membership negotiations with Iceland on Tuesday but urged Reykjavik to rebuild waning public enthusiasm at home to join the club.

"I'm concerned by the current lack of broad public support for European Union membership in Iceland," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said after an inaugural meeting in Brussels marking the start of talks.

"This shows that there's a need for more objective information about the EU and its policies," he said at a news conference alongside Icelandic Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson.

Fuele called on Reykjavik to work on changing public opinion that has turned against the EU amid differences over Iceland's whale hunting and a bank collapse that hit British and Dutch investors.

"The decision (to join the EU) should be based on facts and figures and not on myth and fears. This is a job first and mostly for the Icelandic government," he said, adding that Brussels would support the effort with "factual information on the European Union."

Fuele plans to visit the north Atlantic island of 300,000 people in September.

Public support is key because the decision to join the EU will ultimately go to a referendum. Norway twice voted against joining the EU, in 1972 and 1994.

Negotiations opened just one year after Iceland submitted its application in July 2009 in the wake of a financial crisis that decimated its banking sector and fuelled initial public support to join the EU family's economic security.

Reykjavik has said it hoped to wrap up talks by the end of this year and join by 2012, making it the 29th EU member after Croatia joins the club.

But EU officials warned that negotiations will be far from plain sailing on several fronts, including Iceland's refusal to share its cod fishing waters.

The two sides also face difficult talks on Iceland's defence of its whaling tradition, a practice banned in the EU.

Iceland has also undertaken tough negotiations with EU members Britain and the Netherlands over compensation for British and Dutch account holders who lost their savings in the collapse of Icesave bank.

Foreign Affairs Council - Conclusions on opening of negotiations with Iceland