Commissioner Rehn still hopes Iceland will join EU
Speaker of European Parliament wants to put damper on enlargement debate
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The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, continues to feel that Iceland would be a good new member for the European Union. Rehn said last week that Iceland could become a member of the EU as early as 2011.
The statement angered the Speaker of the European Parliament, Conservative Hans-Gert Pöttering. In an interview published in the Tampere newspaper Aamulehti, the speaker said that such talk might make passage of the Lisbon Treaty on EU reform more difficult, especially in Ireland, where a referendum on the treaty is to be held in the autumn.
Rehn says that passage of the treaty is of key importance for the Commission as well. In his view, it is natural that the Commissioner for Enlargement should take part in the discussion that has been going on in the past year on EU membership.
“Every European country that meets the requirements of democracy and the rule of law, and applies these in practice, can apply for EU membership. Iceland will certainly meet these criteria better than the Balkan Countries, for instance”, Rehn said to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.
The Commissioner points out that Iceland already meets all democratic criteria of the EU, and that no fast-track overtaking lane is being set up for it. “It is also a member of the European Economic Area, and at least two-thirds of EU legislation is already applied there.”
Rehn expects that Iceland’s joining the membership process, and its willingness to commit itself to the criteria of membership in the euro zone, would also stabilise the economy of the country, which is suffering from serious economic difficulties.
Speaker Pöttering will visit Finland on Tuesday next week.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 5.2.2009 - TODAY |
 Commissioner Rehn still hopes Iceland will join EU |
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