EU approves negotiating rules for Iceland - first talks on Tuesday

Jul 26, 2010, 12:34 GMT

Brussels - Iceland cleared the last hurdle to starting membership talks with the European Union on Monday, as the bloc's foreign ministers approved the framework rules for talks.

Iceland applied for EU membership last year in the wake of its spectacular financial smash. The move won narrow political support at the time, but public opinion remains sceptical.

EU foreign ministers at their last formal meeting before the summer break 'adopted the general EU position, including the negotiating framework, with a view to the opening of accession negotiations with Iceland,' an official statement said.

The first round of talks is to be held on Tuesday. However, diplomats said that those would be a formality and would not open technical talks on any of the 35 subjects, or 'chapters', on which Iceland will have to bring its laws into line with EU standards.

Iceland is already a member of the European Free Trade Association and the Schengen border-free zone, meaning that many of its laws are already in line with EU rules.

But Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, stressed that all Iceland's laws would need 'clear scrutiny and good analysis, so it will take the time it is necessary to take.'

Diplomats say that the talks could take some 12-18 months, with control over Iceland's fisheries expected to be the most controversial point.

But Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country strongly backs the Icelandic bid, said that the disagreements over fisheries are 'somewhat less than they were a couple of years ago.'

A number of ministers also warned that the low level of support among Icelanders for accession could be the main stumbling-block.  'I don't have the impression from the opinion polls that the Icelanders themselves are very favourable: that's the problem,' said France's EU Minister Pierre Lellouche.

The number of those opposed to EU membership rose to 60 per cent in June, up from 54 per cent in November, according to a Capacent Gallup poll published earlier this month by Iceland's state broadcaster, RUV.