The European Union has already decided to begin formal accession talks with Iceland, according to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
While a formal decision is scheduled to take place on 17 June, Moratinos told the AFP that “there is an agreement in principle to open membership talks with Iceland.” If this ends up being the case, Iceland could end up moving into the EU before Turkey and Serbia.
However willing the EU might be to bring Iceland into the fold, Icelanders themselves remain largely unconvinced. A recent poll has shown that 58% said they were either very in favor or rather in favor of Iceland withdrawing its application to the EU. At the same time, only 24% said they were very against or rather against the idea.
Iceland applied for EU membership last July. Many Icelanders are against joining the EU due to such concerns as sovereignty of fishing waters, fear that unemployment will increase, and the cost of the application process itself – two out of three respondents to the survey believe the 990 million ISK estimated for the application process is too high.