ES 27 vs. EFTA-EES 3

European Union 27 - EFTA -EEA countries 3

Unfortunately we Icelanders seem to find ourselves in the position of "policy takers" and not "policy makers" at the European arena. I personally think we deserve better.

1) Of course the European Union has changed in the last 14 years since the EEA Agreement was signed. Now the EU has 27 countries and the EFTA- EEA countries are only 3. The balance has shifted. Our influence too.

2) Our participation in the EU decision-making procedures is still not good enough. This is agravated when the role of the European Parliament has increased in detriment of the Commission and the different Committees of Experts where we have been invited. Iceland cannot participate in the official EU legislative procedure when it starts formally.

3) But the question remains: is there any possibility of reforming the EEA Agreement? According to my sources, the EU might be not very interested. Should that mean that we should not even try it?

I let this political task for the Althingi. 

Ýmislegt í EES-samningnum endurspeglar ekki þróun síðustu ára

Athugasemdir

[Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson, 21.11.2007 kl. 00:36]

Th European Commission has simply said it believes the EEA agreement is as favourable for the EFTA countries involved as it can be. Therefore some kind of an update is simply not necessary to its opinion. End of story.