Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 and accession negotiations were formally opened in July 2010. In its most recent annual progress report on Iceland, published last November, the Commission stated that the overall level of Iceland's preparedness to meet EU legislative requirements is good. Through its existing membership of the European Economic Area and the Schengen Area Iceland is already closely integrated with the EU in many sectors and this significantly facilitates the negotiations.

The process is currently at what is known as the "screening" phase, during which the Commission assesses the degree of compatibility of Iceland's laws with those of the EU. At the next Intergovernmental Conference with Iceland, to be held on 27 June, it is expected that the EU Presidency will open a number of negotiation chapters with Iceland on which the screening process has been completed. It is at this stage that actual negotiations can begin. Based on this close relationship and on our own positive experience of enlargement in the past, Ireland supports the EU candidacy of Iceland, a country with which we have strong ties of geography, history, culture and politics.

Accession is a negotiated process and, as in any negotiation, the eventual outcome and timeframe cannot be predicted with precision. Areas where significant differences between Icelandic law and EU law still exist and among those that can be expected to present challenges during the negotiations are fisheries, agriculture and rural development, environment including whaling, regional policy, and food safety including veterinary and phytosanitary regulations.

Ireland will continue to play an active role in protecting our own and the EU's interests in respect of negotiations with Iceland. In this regard we look forward to working closely with Iceland, with the European Commission and with our fellow member states to ensure a satisfactory outcome to the Icelandic accession negotiations that is of mutual benefit to Iceland and the EU.

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