The Icelandic Parliament, known locally as Althingi, will have a meeting today at 10:30 local time (UTC 0). The main focus will be discussion about membership in the European Union. This talk has been going on for quite some time and opinions are rather split and mixed about joining the EU. The Social Democratic Alliance is pushing for EU membership, which the Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardottir is part of, while the other main party of the government, the Left-Green Movement, are against joining the EU.
Iceland has never formally applied for EU membership, though Iceland is part of the EEA and EFTA (European Free Trade Association).
Update: After the meeting today, the Icelandic Parliament decided and will plan to submit an application to join the European Union on 27 July 2009, at the end of this month. The majority of Members of Parliament, mostly from the Social Democrats today, voted on immediate negotiations of EU membership for Iceland.
The thing that surprises me the most is that people here seems to know nothing about EU…
I’m from Belgium, EU founding member. EU is not a state, not even a wannabe state, it’s a supranational organization just like EFTA, UN or NATO (all of which Iceland is a member of). It has absolutely no cultural impact on its member states, it has no official language other than the official languages of the member states. When a country joins, it doesn’t become of european nationality, it simply collaborates further with the other members.
I really don’t see why you seem afraid about losing your language or your national day. Cultural differences is the strength of Europe, the EU actually reinforces that by promoting every single minority and its rights within the member states.
Btw, Esperanto has nothing to do with the EU, it was invented like a century ago by a Russian, so what’s the link with that?
All of that really seems natural to me, but given the comments above, I had to explain that… ;)
Esperanto is not the official language of the EU! There are 22 official languages. Esperanto is just a proposed auxiliary language.
comming from a small country with the aprox same ammount of people (Malta), I think the EU served us more good than bad. All I can say is don’t rush to join, make your requests and sepcial agrements (especially on fishing).
If only people were that prescient Jim :) .
For some strange reason, Denmark seems to be perfectly happy to subsidise small (at least population-wise), semi-independent islands in the North Atlantic. Iceland really missed the boat on that one.
I thought most of the Icelanders read books, according to the propaganda. The only book they read nowadays is http://www.facebook.com/
What Amazes me as a foreigner her.. is that Icelanders obviously do not have the will to get out of this mess…and a lot of them are willing to put on the side potential solution.. such as the UE…How dumb are u ?
Coming from a country that is indeed in the UE…France..to be more clear Things are not that terrible..They are even pretty good…There is of course conflict..But we still have our national day.. which starts in few hours..We still have our independence..and our parliament…
But yet.. for Icelandic politician.. this is better to be a big fish a small pool…than a small fish one in a big pool…
So just a small hint for Icelanders…This is not 2007 anymore.. so Get to work…
> So how’s that independence working out?
>
> Oh, I’m sure it’s been blast for the elite, but
> would the average Icelander have been better off
> if they were still Danish?
Perhaps the Danes should have recategorised Iceland as a serfdom permitted to fish but banned from banking…
Learning to read and write is education not highly educated, Icelandic propaganda has deliverately miss use statistics and has mixed the concept of alphabetization with education, in terms of alphabetization , Yes iceland is highly alphabetized (still there are alot of people that went to school and cant read and write so to get read of the fact that they are lazy or dumb and avoid putung some reall work on EDUCATION they call them dislexic)as a nation but NOT highly educated. sepcially not in the economics and science fields. The school system is wide but not good, the dumbest or laziest kit goes on and on from grade to grade without learning anything and then they just call them dislexic.
So how’s that independence working out?
Oh, I’m sure it’s been blast for the elite, but would the average Icelander have been better off if they were still Danish?
Alex, they’ve been invaded by our scumbags/villains …. if Iceland would not join EU and kick out them (nearly 400 shameful compatriots of mine) there will be more jobs and money for Icelanders :D
“EU might not be the best solution, but at least it will give this country a direction”
Yeah, down… It’s ironic that Iceland achieved independence from Denmark only to give it up to Brussels less than a century later. The Icelandic National Day should be cancelled after joining the EU.
Please don’t do that! Don’t join EU. Your beautiful country will be invaded by Romanian and Jugoslavian bandits.
Balkanson – it is a popular statement that “most Icelanders are highly educated.” As you stated it is “propaganda”.
When a country (such as Iceland) can boast a 99% literacy rate then it is common to misconstrue that as highly educated. The 1% that cannot read is almost all mentally handicapped.
Iceland has a high level of education across the board. Meaning education is available and given to every single soul in the country. Therefore the average of education is higher compared to other countries. A more accurate statement would be “All Icelanders have a good education.” However, try not to confuse all Icelanders having a good education with “highly educated”.
All Icelanders complete what other countries might call High School minus 2 years. They only have 10 grades not 12 here. After that school, most Icelanders then attend what would commonly be called a vocational/technical school or at best a junior college. This is not university or college, it is just vo-tech schooling. A very small percent go on and complete University. Many do go but fail to graduate. Attendance is not completion of a degree.
So, that being said, I do have a great respect for the Icelandic education system. The vast majority of the teachers truly try to assist their pupils in advancing themselves. But in the end it comes down to “The Icelanders have a good education”. They are not highly educated nor are they superior (as a group) to any other nation or culture.
Well, their ego is a bit larger than most countries. lol
I thought most of the Icelanders are highly educated, according to the propaganda.
I don’t personally care who runs things here. As long as somebody starts to run things! We have been without any leaders for a long time now. While we have people that are in charge they don’t seem to lead effectively. This is Iceland where the rules change in the middle of the night, literally.
EU might not be the best solution, but at least it will give this country a direction.
You should all start learning to speak Turkish.
Poor Iceland. I feel for you. Worst mistake you’ve ever made.
Enjoy the cod while you’ve still got it :(
Icelandic children will have to learn Esperanto (the offical language of the EU) after they join the EU.
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