Iceland applied to join the EU

Iceland applied to join the EU on 16 July 2009. The application was accepted by the European Council and a commission will analyse Iceland's preparedness for negotiations.

 Iceland has been hit very hard by the credit crunch that has resulted in the bankruptcy of the country in 2008. As part of the European Economic Area, the country is already a member of the Schengen Area that removes border controls between Member States. Sweden that now holds the EU presidency, announced that it would prioritize Iceland's EU accession process.

Iceland's government has a target date of 2012 for joining the bloc, which will be subject to a referendum in Iceland. The latest opinion poll in Iceland produced by Capacent Gallup for the Federation of Icelandic Industries and published on September 15, 2009 shows a majority of Icelanders opposes EU membership. According to the poll in which people were asked how they would vote if there was a referendum now on EU membership, 61.5% said they would vote against joining the EU. 

Due to Iceland's limited currency, the government has explored the possibility of adopting the Euro

without joining the European Union. The EU, however, says that Iceland cannot join the EMU (European and Monetary Union) without becoming a full member state despite Turkey and Israel having been offered "Privileged Partnership" in the past which in theory Iceland could also demand.

Some statistics on Iceland:

                   Area (km²)          Population             GDP

                                               (million)                 (€ billion)

Iceland       103,001                 0.3                          12,664

Europe        4,324,782              497                          10,445,000

Published on 30 July 2010