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Iceland takes quick steps towards EU membership

22 June 2012, 12:37 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - Iceland is moving rapidly in its quest to join the European Union but the contentious issue of fishing rights has yet to be tackled, top EU and Icelandic officials said Friday.

The 27-nation EU and Iceland opened on Friday three more negotiation "chapters" on transport, social policy and financial control.

Nations applying for EU membership must negotiate 35 policy chapters with the 27-nation bloc, a process that can take many years to finish.

But Iceland has now opened 18 chapters with the EU, wrapping up 10 of those already in negotiations that began in June 2011. Reykjavik already fulfills many EU policies thanks to its membership in the European Economic Area (EEA).

"This is the fastest that a candidate state has moved since 2006," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said after a new round of accession talks with Icelandic Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson in Brussels.

But more difficult negotiations are expected when the two sides open talks on fishing, a major source of revenue for the North Atlantic island.

"We stand ready to put forth our negotiating position, and we are really itching to start scratching the surface of the problem," Skarphedinsson told a news conference.

"It will be a difficult problem, it will take time and therefore the sooner we can start tackling it, the better," he said, calling for "creative and innovative" solutions.

Iceland and the EU are at odds over fishing rights, with a so-called "mackerel war" heating up in late 2010 after Iceland unilaterally multiplied its catch quota. The two sides also disagree on Iceland's whaling tradition.

Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 in the wake of a catastrophic banking and economic meltdown.


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