Strasbourg, 16/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 16 January, the European Parliament took note of the decision of the Icelandic government to organise a referendum before the end of the country's EU accession negotiations.
The recently elected Icelandic government has suspended the EU accession process and is currently proceeding with an assessment of the accession negotiations and of the internal developments in the European Union before debating these issues within the Icelandic Parliament (the Althingi).
By adopting the report by Cristian Dan Preda (EPP, Romania) on the 2012 follow-up report on Iceland and the outlook after the elections, the European Parliament says that it “looks forward to the parliamentary debate on, and review by the Althingi of, the accession negotiations”. The European Parliament offers to contribute to the preparation of this assessment and hopes that it will be finished as quickly as possible. Parliament also “awaits further decisions on the way ahead, including a decision on whether or not to hold a referendum on the continuation of accession negotiations”. Parliament hopes that the referendum will be organised in the not too distant future.
Parliament reiterates that Iceland is still considered a candidate country and that the country has a good capacity to assume the obligations of membership. In total, 27 negotiation chapters have been opened and 11 of them have been provisionally closed, “marking the good progress made in the accession process”, Parliament notes. It “welcomes the prospect of having as a new member state a country with a well-functioning democratic tradition and strong institutions and civil society”. (CG/transl.fl)