The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, arrived in Iceland yesterday and presented Iceland’s Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir with a questionnaire assessing the country’s readiness to fulfill European Union membership obligations.
Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
The responses provided by the Icelandic authorities will serve as a basis for the Commission to prepare an opinion on Iceland’s application for membership of the EU, which will then be submitted to the European Council, Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs states in a press release.
“Receiving the questionnaire marks yet another step by Iceland on its journey towards full EU membership,” Sigurdardóttir said, adding:
“Iceland is already an active participant in European cooperation as a full member of EU’s Single Market and the Schengen Agreement, and a founding member of NATO and the OSCE. We are well prepared and believe we will be able to submit our answers to the EU within a reasonably short time.”
The questionnaire includes 2,000 questions in 33 chapters. Individual ministries and governmental institutions will now start preparing answers to the questionnaire, which the Icelandic authorities hope will be concluded in the coming months.
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