Iceland's parliament, the Althing, is one of the oldest in the world. It was even consulted some 1,000 years ago about whether the nation should adopt the Christian faith - making Iceland the only example of a nation which "chose" Christianity by democratic means!
A country with such a deep-rooted attachment to democracy was always going to be lukewarm about the prospect of surrendering its sovereignty to the unaccountable bureaucrats of Brussels. Furthermore, bearing in mind that fishing has played a crucial role in the Icelandic economy, the people were understandably less than enthusiastic about being subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, especially noting the tragic example of the UK to the south, whose fishing industry has been decimated by the CFP.
However, in 2003 Iceland diversified from fishing into banking, but suffered in the Great Reccession when three of its banks went bust. In the aftermath, the Icelandic Króna lost much of its value, and inflation shot up. In a moment of madness, Iceland elected a left-wing government, turned to the EU and began accecsson talks. If only Iceland had been in the €urozone, things wouldn't have been that bad.....
....Four years on, and Icelanders have not only seen their economy start to turn round, but have also seen what has happened in the €urozone periphery. They have seen once-sovereign states lose control of their budgets to the "troika" (the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund). In particular, they cannot have failed to note the contrast between their own slow but steady recovery and the entrenched reecession in Greece, where youth unemployment has reached 60% and some children are scavenging for food in their school dustbins. Given that the EU accession talks were making slow progress over the fisheries issue anyway, it is hardly surprising that in the election held last weekend, Icelandic voters have turned to the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), both opponents of Icelandic membership of the EU. The two parties between them won 36 of the 63 seats in the Icelandic parliament, and although the make-up of the new government is still subject to negotiation, one of its first acts is likely to be the termination of EU accession talks. Recent opinion polls suggest that two thirds of Icelanders oppose EU membership, so even if talks did progress to the referendum stage, a "no" vote would be by far the most probable outcome.
So Iceland has regained the confidence that it can survive as a sovereign nation. Of course, Europhiles will say, the UK isn't like Iceland, or Norway, or Switzerland, or the Channel Islands for that matter. That's true, we're not, but there is something rather contradictory in their arguments. On the one hand, they talk of the UK being too small to survive on its own, but then they claim that we are too big to be compared to a country like Iceland. The truth is that the Europhiles have lost the argument and they know it. If Iceland with its long history of democracy has sufficient self-belief to kick the EU negotiations into the long grass, then the UK, regardless of its size, can survive as a free and soverign nation. If the likes of Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg have so little confidence in the future of an independent UK and so much faith in the EU, they could always emigrate to Brussels - in fact, I'd be happy to cough up a fiver towards their ticket - as long as it was one way.
A country with such a deep-rooted attachment to democracy was always going to be lukewarm about the prospect of surrendering its sovereignty to the unaccountable bureaucrats of Brussels. Furthermore, bearing in mind that fishing has played a crucial role in the Icelandic economy, the people were understandably less than enthusiastic about being subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy, especially noting the tragic example of the UK to the south, whose fishing industry has been decimated by the CFP.
However, in 2003 Iceland diversified from fishing into banking, but suffered in the Great Reccession when three of its banks went bust. In the aftermath, the Icelandic Króna lost much of its value, and inflation shot up. In a moment of madness, Iceland elected a left-wing government, turned to the EU and began accecsson talks. If only Iceland had been in the €urozone, things wouldn't have been that bad.....
....Four years on, and Icelanders have not only seen their economy start to turn round, but have also seen what has happened in the €urozone periphery. They have seen once-sovereign states lose control of their budgets to the "troika" (the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund). In particular, they cannot have failed to note the contrast between their own slow but steady recovery and the entrenched reecession in Greece, where youth unemployment has reached 60% and some children are scavenging for food in their school dustbins. Given that the EU accession talks were making slow progress over the fisheries issue anyway, it is hardly surprising that in the election held last weekend, Icelandic voters have turned to the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), both opponents of Icelandic membership of the EU. The two parties between them won 36 of the 63 seats in the Icelandic parliament, and although the make-up of the new government is still subject to negotiation, one of its first acts is likely to be the termination of EU accession talks. Recent opinion polls suggest that two thirds of Icelanders oppose EU membership, so even if talks did progress to the referendum stage, a "no" vote would be by far the most probable outcome.
So Iceland has regained the confidence that it can survive as a sovereign nation. Of course, Europhiles will say, the UK isn't like Iceland, or Norway, or Switzerland, or the Channel Islands for that matter. That's true, we're not, but there is something rather contradictory in their arguments. On the one hand, they talk of the UK being too small to survive on its own, but then they claim that we are too big to be compared to a country like Iceland. The truth is that the Europhiles have lost the argument and they know it. If Iceland with its long history of democracy has sufficient self-belief to kick the EU negotiations into the long grass, then the UK, regardless of its size, can survive as a free and soverign nation. If the likes of Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Nick Clegg have so little confidence in the future of an independent UK and so much faith in the EU, they could always emigrate to Brussels - in fact, I'd be happy to cough up a fiver towards their ticket - as long as it was one way.