Brussels, 04/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - Will the European Council on 17 June give its go-ahead to launching membership talks with Iceland? This question will be looked at next week by Coreper. The ambassadors of the 27 member states will take a stance on how to follow up the Commission's positive opinion on Iceland's candidature (EUROPE 10085). Everything hangs on the attitude adopted by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which still expect Iceland will agree to pay compensation to British and Dutch savers that lost their money after the collapse of the online bank, IceSave. Neither London nor The Hague have openly said they will block Icelandic candidacy because of this (in substance they are both in favour of Iceland joining) but, at the same time, it is difficult to imagine that these two member states will allow membership talks to open without first having gained satisfaction regarding IceSave - all the more as the matter has become a subject of the campaign for legislative elections on 9 June in the Netherlands where two major parties - the VVD (Conservative-Liberals) currently in the lead in the polls, and the PVV - are opposed to Iceland joining without prior agreement on IceSave. A number of European diplomats are also speaking of a possible compromise should the European Council of 17 June invite the Council to prepare the negotiating framework without, however, fixing a date for negotiations to begin. The work on this text will take several months which will allow Iceland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to find a solution to their differences. Accession talks could then kick off in the autumn with the unanimous agreement of all 27 member states. (H.B./transl.jl)