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Iceland Suspends Plans to Join EU
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| Contributor | particleman |
| Last Edited | particleman May 23, 2013 07:09pm |
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| Category | News |
| Author | Clemens Bomsdorf |
| Media | Newspaper - Wall Street Journal |
| News Date | Wednesday, May 22, 2013 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Leaders of Iceland's new coalition government will delay any consideration of joining the European Union until the country holds a referendum within the next four years on whether it should continue membership negotiations.
The new government, which will be headed by Iceland's Progressive Party and the Independence Party, officially announced a coalition agreement on Wednesday, nearly a month after voters knocked a government headed by the Social Democrats out of power. The win represented a comeback for parties that had slumped in popularity following the nation's economic crisis in 2008.
While support for the Progressive and Independence Parties was largely motivated by the promise of tax cuts and other forms of relief for debt-laden citizens, the results were also based on a swell of nationalistic sentiment. The Social Democrats, formerly in power, pushed for Iceland to join the EU and adopt the euro, and their defeat signaled a more isolated future for the small island nation.
A referendum will likely take some time to hold given the intense disapproval with which many Icelanders currently view the prospect of joining the EU. In the meantime, Mr. Gunnlaugsson's coalition is expected to work on policies to accelerate economic growth. |
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