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Icelandic fish quotas stance a political ploy?
Published: 29 December, 2010
COULD Iceland's mackerel grab be a ploy to avoid a humiliating referendum defeat over its bid to join the European Union?
This is certainly the view of Scottish Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson who has been the most outspoken critic of both Iceland and the Faroe Islands over their self-proclaimed mackerel quotas, which many fear could eventually destroy the stock.
Mr Stevenson said that he believed Iceland’s government hopes Europe will become so enraged that it will cancel accession talks with the crisis-hit North Atlantic nation. “This whole Icelandic saga is no longer about fish, but EU membership,"he declared.
“Opinion polls show that over 60 per cent of Icelanders do not want to join the EU. What better way for the Icelandic government to get themselves out of this political jam than to provoke a crisis and then blame the EU for slamming the membership door in their face?"
His comments come at a time when there is certainly deep division in Iceland over EU membership, with the fishing industry firmly against. But Arni Pall Arnason, Iceland’s Minister of Economics and Trade said just before Christmas that the nation faced a choice between the single European currency or ongoing currency exchange restrictions and a relapse to a much simpler means of trade with the outside world if it keeps the krona. Writing in the Icelandic newspaper Frettabladid Mr Arnason said that the second option (keeping the krona) would, in reality, mean a return to simpler trade and sustained exchange restrictions.
Mr Stevenson said it seemed abundantly clear thata Europe get out ploy was the hidden agenda of the present government in Reykjavik. "They are playing political games in the hope that they will avoid having to call an embarrassing referendum, the result of which could have been a major setback for the current Icelandic government, if not a resignation issue," he added. He maintained everyone knew the Icelandic fisheries minister Jon Bjarnason was firmly opposed to membership.
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