Parlement IJsland praat deze week over toetreding EU
Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir i has said the country's new government is to put the question of European Union membership talks to parliament this week.
Despite her coalition partners' opposition to joining the bloc, such a bill is likely to pass, as there is a fresh majority in the house in favour of the move, taking into account two minor parties.
"There is a parliamentary majority for EU membership talks," she told reporters on Sunday (9 May).
"It will be in the first days after the inaugural session," she said, adding that legislation permitting EU accession talks to begin will be tabled on Friday, when the Althingi, the country's parliament, resumes sitting after last month's elections that returned a left-wing majority for the first time.
"We insist that a membership application be sent to the EU before July."
While the senior government partner, the Social Democrats, strongly back joining the EU, their allies, the far-left Left Green Movement, are opposed. The two parties have a 34-seat majority in the 63-seat Althingi.
However, taking into account the minor parties, the house now also has a strong majority in favour of the EU.
The centrist Progressive Party, which recently changed its position and now backs applying for EU membership, won nine seats, and the Citizens' Movement, which grew out of the protests that led to the government resigning and also supports such a move, won four, giving the pro-EU fraction in the parliament a total of 33 seats.
Steingrimur Sigfusson, the leader of the Left Greens and the country's finance minister said the partners had "agreed to disagree" on the subject.
"This is a compromise," said Mr Sigfusson. "When it comes to voting on the resolution, the members of parliament will only be bound by their own conscience."
However, both partners agreed that the final decision on membership will be put to a referendum.
"Both parties emphasise their joint intent that it be the nation which, in a referendum, will finally determine whether Iceland will (apply to) join the European Union," the government said in a policy paper.
A Gallup poll on Wednesday showed almost two thirds (61.2%) of Icelanders in favour of the move and 29.6 percent against, although the question of actual membership still divides them.
For its part, the European Commission has indicated that if Reykjavik applied for membership, its accession process would be short and it could become an EU member by 2011.
The country already applies some 75 percent of EU legislation through its existing membership in The European Economic Area (EEA) along with Liechtenstein and Norway.