New Blog on the street

We have received word that one of our Icelandic readers, Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson, has started his own Blog on EU related news from Iceland. This is a welcome addition to the growing list of EU-related Blogs. It can be found here and we will be putting a link on the sidebar.

The latest post from Hjörtur tells us that Halldór Ásgrímsson, the Icelandic Foreign Minister, has said that it is pointless to discuss whether Iceland should join the European Union while it is the policy of the Union to share territorial waters. He has also said that the deal Norway had with the EU in 1994 would not do for Iceland.

This is an interesting confirmation of what Owen Paterson, Tory shadow fisheries minister, found when he visited Iceland recently (see report). He was told that the only way Iceland could even consider joining the EU was if the CFP was repatriated. Whimsically, Paterson observed that he would do his best to create the conditions which would allow Iceland to join.