Icelanders reject EU membership - poll

[FutureTaoiseach]

Looks like the Icelanders are wising up to the con-trick that EU membership will constitute a cure-all for their economic woes. Poll:

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - People in Iceland are divided on whether their country should enter the European Union (EU), according to a poll by Capacent Gallup. 45.5 per cent of respondents do not want to join the continental group, but 39.7 per cent would like Iceland to be a member.
Iceland has been severely affected by a domestic economic crisis. In 2008, the country’s three major banks—Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing—collapsed following setbacks in their refinancing plans. The Icelandic krona lost 35 per cent of its value against the euro. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and individual countries have provided $10 billion U.S. on loans to Iceland.
Thousands of people in the country of just over 300,000 have protested against the government’s handling of the crisis.
In January, Independence Party (SSF) leader and Icelandic prime minister Geir Haarde—who was criticized for a perceived lack of regulation of the banking sector—announced his resignation, explaining that he has been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.
On Feb. 1, Johanna Sigurdardottir of the Social Alliance (SF) was sworn in as head of government. A new general election will take place on Apr. 25.
Iceland, which is not a member of the EU, has considered adopting the common European currency, the euro. Earlier this year, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn rejected the idea of Iceland adopting the euro without fully entering the union.
On Mar. 8, Knutur Signarsson, leader of the pro-EU Federation of Icelandic Trade, declared: "People are fed up with this economic and political instability and don’t know where to turn. (…) That’s why we must push for a referendum and quickly launch entry talks—because the EU is our best chance for stability."

This obvious raises questions as to the viability and credibility of the 'guarantees' the govt is offering in relation to taxation, abortion and neutrality, dependent as they are on inclusion in an Icelandic or Croatian Accession Treaty. The govt must be pinned down on the question of what will happen to the 'guarantees' should the Accession treaty be rejected in an Icelandic/Croatian referendum.

[Chrisco]

Looks like the Icelanders are wising up to the con-trick that EU membership will constitute a cure-all for their economic woes. Poll:



This obvious raises questions as to the viability and credibility of the 'guarantees' the govt is offering in relation to taxation, abortion and neutrality, dependent as they are on inclusion in an Icelandic or Croatian Accession Treaty. The govt must be pinned down on the question of what will happen to the 'guarantees' should the Accession treaty be rejected in an Icelandic/Croatian referendum.

I am not sure a poll conducted in February is terribly informative...

[Iarmhi Gael]

Titantic hits iceberg

[stannis]

Quick, let's link this to Libertas and start another indignant attack thread.

[FutureTaoiseach]

It's the most recent poll asking the question of whether Icelanders favour EU membership, as opposed to whether the country should apply for membership. The most recent poll since them only asked should Iceland apply for membership. In the poll above, 64% favoured applying for membership, but Icelanders rejected membership itself 45-39. The most recent poll only asked the first question, and shows support for an application falling to 60%. It should be noted too that:

Observers say both those for and against joining the EU want to apply for membership in order to bring the drawn-out EU debate in Iceland to a close, with a possible membership deal being put to a national vote

[Chrisco]

It's still a two-month old story, that was discussed on here quite a while ago, reporting a poll taken in February.

[TommyO'Brien]

This isn't just scraping the barrel. It is scraping the scrapings of the barrel!

The poll was done in February. This is now May.

[Ramon21]

Boring, iceland is now begging to get in.
So this topic is useless, and should be changed to icelanders begging to get into the eu.

[MacCoise]

Boring, iceland is now begging to get in.
.

no, theoir government has some dignity unlike ours. Of course the green left party is in government nçw and opposed to mmebership but ultimately the people will decide- a nice idea, wonder how long they would be in before the EU put a stop to taht kind of behaviour

[Albert Aherne]

At the moment they've only been told that their economy has gone belly up;wait until they start feeling the pain of the cutbacks.....bit like us ....and then (like us ) they'll stampede to get in.