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ICELAND played little part in European developments during the first two decades following the Second World War. It joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) only in March 1970. The following November it began talks with the European Communities (EC) along with the other nonapplicant EFTA states, and formal negotiations began the following year. These were hindered by Iceland’s unilateral decision in 1972 to expand its territorial fishing limits to 50 nautical miles (93 km). Although a free trade agreement was ratified in February 1973, the EC insisted that a satisfactory settlement of the fishing dispute had to be reached before Iceland would be allowed to obtain the full benefits of the Agreement, and an acceptable compromise was not reached until July 1976. After this, there were no significant qualitative changes in the relationship with the EC until the late 1980s, when discussions, followed by negotiations, on the European Economic Area (EEA) began. This arrangement satisfied Iceland’s desire for access to the internal market. Hence, unlike most of its EFTA partners, Iceland did not apply for EC membership. Successive Icelandic governments remained rather sceptical on the subject of European Union (EU) entry. This attitude did not, however, prevent relations with the EU from developing further. Iceland, along with Norway, negotiated participation in the Schengen Agreement and regularly associated itself with EU positions adopted as part of the common foreign and security policy. The economic and financial turmoil unleashed in late 2008 had a heavy impact on Iceland, where banks had severely overstretched themselves on capital and bond markets. The crisis and ensuing credit crunch shook the economic and political infrastructure of Iceland to its core, toppled the Government and led Iceland to consider for the first time the possibility of EU membership. A new centre-left (Social Democrats and Greens) coalition Government, formed after elections in April 2009, was determined to bring the issue before parliament for debate. In July, after intense debate, the Icelandic parliament voted in favour (33 votes to 28, with two abstentions) of initiating the process for EU membership. The application was submitted later that month. The application was generally welcomed within the EU, although it was clear that accession was not a foregone conclusion. The period prior to the Commission’s generally positive avis in February 2010 was overshadowed by a dispute with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands over the level of compensation that Iceland should pay British and Dutch investors in the

collapsed Icesave bank. Iceland opened accession negotiations in July, but these proved to be far more protracted than had been assumed, despite Iceland’s already close integration with the EU through the EEA. Popular support in Iceland for membership began to decline following the application, raising the question of whether any successfully negotiated accession treaty would be passed in a referendum. Negotiations continued, however, although by mid2012-the Icelandic Government’s original target date for accession-only 10 of the 35 negotiating chapters had been closed. Following the defeat of the incumbent Government in legislative elections in April 2013, a new centreright and Eurosceptic administration, under the premiership of Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson of the Progressive Party, came to power. In mid-June the new Government confirmed that it was suspending the EU application process.

The IDENTITY, TRADITION AND SOVEREIGNTY GROUP (ITS) party group emerged in the sixth European Parliament (2004-09). It was established in January 2007 and had 23 members, thereby just surpassing the minimum requirement at that date (of 20) for an EP political group. It largely owed its creation to the arrival of a number of Bulgarian (one) and Romanian (six) Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) after accession on 1 January 2007. The ITS was a rather loose-knit group which belonged to the right of the party spectrum and included such personalities as Jean-Marie le Pen, together with five other members of the French Front National, and Alessandra Mussolini. The group highlighted a number of core values including: the recognition of national interests, sovereignties, identities and differences; a commitment to Christian values, heritage, culture and the traditions of European civilization; a commitment to the traditional family as the natural unit within society; and strident opposition to a unitary and bureaucratic European superstate. It also espoused strong views on immigration and objected to Turkish accession to the European Union (EU). The ITS represented another Eurosceptic voice in the EP. This group was always volatile and had been created through political opportunity. It disintegrated in November 2007 after Alessandra Mussolini was deemed to have made disparaging remarks about Romanians and work ethics, whereupon the members from the Greater Romania Party withdrew from the ITS. This reduction in membership caused the disqualification of the ITS from its short-lived recognition as an official EP party group.