EU wants you! (Um aðildarumsókn að ESB)

Ónefndur erlendur sérfræðingur segir um afstöðu Brussel gagnvar Íslandi:

Be in no doubt: the EU wants you, for reasons made abundantly clear herein, and will, as also made clear, spend a lot of money to make sure it gets you.

Þessi aðili sem telur að ríkisstjórn Íslands vinni að hagsmunum Brussel valdsins vekur athygli á atriðum í framvinduskýrslu ESB:

11. Welcomes the agreement achieved between the representatives of the Governments of Iceland, the Netherlands and the UK on the Icesave issue, notably on guaranteeing the repayment of costs incurred in payment of minimum guarantees to depositors in branches of Landsbanki Islands hf. in the UK and the Netherlands; welcomes the approval by a three-quarters majority of the agreement by the Icelandic Parliament on 17 February 2011; takes note of the decision of the President of Iceland to refer the bill to a referendum and hopes for an end to the infringement procedure which started on 26 May 2010, brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against the Government of Iceland;

13. Welcomes the presentation by Iceland to the European Commission of its first Pre-Accession Economic Programme as an important step in the pre-accession phase and hopes that the annual bilateral economic dialogue that has been announced will consolidate the cooperation between the two parties;

14. Encourages the Icelandic authorities to continue on the path of devising a strategy for the liberalisation of capital controls, which is an important requirement for the country's accession to the EU;

26. Calls on Iceland and the EU to have a constructive approach to the joint management of mackerel fisheries, and encourages Iceland to keep up a good pace in the ongoing negotiations on this issue, in particular with the goal of reaching a long-term, sustainable, quota-sharing arrangement;

33. Encourages the Icelandic authorities to broaden the public debate about EU accession, taking into account the need for a firm commitment in order to have successful negotiations; commends Iceland for the establishment of the public website eu.mfa.is and welcomes the growing and more balanced discussions in the Icelandic media on the pros and cons of EU membership;

34. Calls on the Commission to provide material and technical support, if requested to do so by the Icelandic authorities, in order to help them improve transparency and accountability in relation to the accession process and to contribute to organising a thorough and extensive country-wide campaign based on clear, accurate and fact-based information on the implications of EU membership, so that Icelandic citizens can make an informed choice in the future referendum on accession;

35. Hopes that, beyond different political points of view, an informed public opinion can also positively influence the Icelandic authorities’ engagement towards EU membership;