ICELAND: Iceland's ruling Progressive Party is to discuss whether to start talks on joining the European Union, the prime minister's spokesman said yesterday.
"There is a proposal from some of the party members that Iceland will start negotiations in the next electoral term . . . which starts in 2007," said spokesman Steingrimur Olafsson. He said the government of Prime Minister Halldor Asgrimsson had "no plans" to start EU membership talks at the moment.
Iceland, with a population of just 290,000, is a member of the European Economic Sphere and co-operates with the EU on trade issues. It is also a member of Nato, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Mr Asgrimsson has been talking about Icelandic EU membership for a couple of years, but the issue has not been at the forefront of political debate recently, said Egill Olofsson, news editor of Iceland's leading newspaper, Morgunbladid.
A draft political platform to be debated at the Progressive Party conference beginning today contains a proposal for EU membership talks to begin after the next general election in 2007.
"I would not be surprised if this will be changed," Mr Olofsson said, noting that Agriculture Minister Gudni Augustsson had told Icelandic radio yesterday that the time was not right.
The last opinion poll on EU membership, conducted in September, found 53 per cent of Icelanders in favour and 46 per cent against.
A clear majority, 71 per cent, supported membership negotiations, the poll showed.
All Icelandic political parties want the question of EU membership decided by referendum.
Croatia is increasingly unlikely to start EU membership talks on time next month because its leaders are still relying on diplomatic lobbying instead of arresting its top war crimes fugitive. The EU has bluntly threatened to postpone the start of negotiations on March 17th unless Gen Ante Gotovina, in hiding since 2001, is handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague by then.