Brussels, 01/08/2013 (Agence Europe) - Sigurgeir Thorgeirrson, who is responsible for relations with the European Union in fisheries and agriculture for the Icelandic government, stated on Thursday 1 August that his country should expect sanctions in the dispute on mackerel.
The two parties are completely unable to find a compromise in the mackerel war that was started by Reykjavik's decision in 2010 to increase its fishing quota, on the grounds that mackerel have reportedly migrated further north with global warming.
“We really believe it's virtually immoral to apply sanctions in the relations between states that have very close relations”, Thorgeirsson told the public television station RUV.
However, “the European Union is clearly ready to use this method. So we need to be better prepared before it is used against us if no agreement is found”, he stated. Iceland's Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Sigurdur Ingi Johannesson has decided to wait, saying the next deadline is another meeting in September. “We would find it very strange if they planned measures, given that we have called for a negotiating session and that all the parties, including the EU, have accepted this invitation”, he told the newspaper Visir. President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson discussed the issue in Brussels on 16 July. (LC/transl.fl)