Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-14-Speech-3-058-000"
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"en.20120314.6.3-058-000"2
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"Mr President, honourable Members, Commissioner Füle, let us now turn to Iceland and underline a number of points which are also duly reflected in your resolution.
This is a remarkable result, which underlines Iceland’s very high level of preparedness for membership. It also represents momentum to be upheld, which we will do everything possible to achieve.
The next accession conference with Iceland at deputy level is planned for 30 March. This should allow us to take stock of progress and send clear signals as to Iceland’s and the EU’s shared commitment to uphold momentum. We hope to open at least three new chapters concerning competition policy, energy, and foreign security and defence policy, and also to provisionally close some of those chapters.
The accession conference at ministerial level planned for June will confirm the results of the accession conference in March and sustain the momentum in the negotiations by opening and provisionally closing a further number of chapters.
All in all, we expect negotiations to continue at very good speed this semester. Some more challenging negotiations, such as those on fisheries, lie ahead of us. However, given the commitment and focus from the Icelandic side, we are very confident that, with the right amount of goodwill and political determination, substantial progress can be achieved in these areas as well. I am convinced of the commitment of all parties to bring the negotiations forward.
In conclusion, the aim of the Presidency is to sustain momentum in the negotiations and bring them forward as much as possible. This is a task that we can only achieve with the support and cooperation of the Member States, the Commission and, not least, this Parliament, as this debate will show.
Let me also, on behalf of the Danish Presidency and the Member States, thank this Parliament and, in particular, your rapporteur, Mr Preda, for the work done on this issue. Your continued commitment to enlargement is vital to its success – as is, of course, your particular role in promoting popular support in the EU for this cause.
The resolution on Iceland and its endorsement in plenary is indeed a forceful political and strategic message. I also believe that, through contacts with fellow parliamentarians from the Althingi in Iceland, this House will be able to make an important and much-needed contribution to enhancing understanding of the EU, the values that we share and the way we work.
On 5 December last year, the Council welcomed the Commission’s progress report on Iceland and took good note of its findings and recommendations. Iceland has indeed made good progress over the last year and has continued to do so in the first months of 2012. The process of screening the
is almost complete, and there is good momentum in the negotiations.
Last week, I had the opportunity to go to Iceland, where I met with leaders in Icelandic politics, including the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and other leaders. I made it very clear that we want to continue this process in a very constructive dialogue.
Due to its membership of the European Economic Area and Schengen, Iceland has come to the negotiations with another starting point. In a large number of policy fields, Iceland already lives up to – or is very close to – the
. In this regard, it is worth noticing that we managed to simultaneously open and close the very symbolic Chapter 23 on judicial matters.
I would also like to add that Iceland benefits from a very professional administration and a very committed and professional negotiating team, also at political level. This impression was strongly confirmed when I met with the Icelandic leadership a short while ago.
The Council is committed to moving the negotiation process forward. As the Presidency, we take this mandate very seriously and will push those negotiations forward as much as possible within the merit-based approach. It is clear to all that there can be no shortcuts to membership for any countries and that Iceland will, of course, have to satisfy the same criteria in the enlargement negotiations as the other candidate countries.
In December last year, the Council noted with satisfaction Iceland’s progress in stabilising its economy. The recovery from the economic and financial collapse in 2008 and 2009 is well under way. This is not least due to responsible macro-economic policies and tough decisions on structural and welfare reforms. Also due to this, Iceland successfully completed its IMF programme in August 2011 and has just recently seen itself upgraded by the rating agency Fitch.
Iceland still faces challenges. But with the current economic outlook, we are convinced that Iceland will be able to cope with competitive pressures and market forces within the Union over the medium term.
Let me move on to the state of the actual negotiations. We have now almost completed the screening process, which is a process that examines Iceland’s level of alignment with the
. The Council has already received and dealt with all screening reports except those from the fishery chapters. We expect to receive that report around Easter. As for the negotiations of the 35 negotiation chapters, 11 chapters have now been opened and eight have been provisionally closed, thanks to the efforts of previous presidencies."@en1
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