Start of Accession Negotiations with Iceland

This is always an important event. Today the European Union and its Member States will officially start negotiations for the accession of Iceland to the EU. The process will probably be smooth given the membership of Iceland in the European Economic Area. The biggest stumbling block remains the Icesave dispute between Iceland and the UK and the Netherlands.

Accession Conference with Croatia Cancelled

The Czech EU presidency has decided to cancel the intergovernmental accession conference with Croatia planned for June 26. The reason is the ongoing territorial dispute with Slovenia.

The accession negotiations with Croatia will remain blocked for an indefinite period of time. “This is a bilateral dispute, says the future Swedish presidency. “Responsibility for solving bilateral disputes rests with the countries themselves”.

While this is true, an important question is whether the bilateral disputes may effectively prevent future enlargement. There is more: “maintaining the credibility of integration prospects is very important, otherwise security in the Balkans could be severely undermined”, says Roland Berzani.