[LINK] "Fishing is key issue as Iceland applies to join EU"

[rfmcdonald]

It's unsurprising that, as the Associated Press' Karl Ritter notes, the question of Iceland's fisheries is a major issue in the first negotiations between Iceland and the European Union on membership.

Iceland formally applied Thursday to join the European Union but said it would not accept a "rotten deal" for its fishing industry, a key sector of the island nation's troubled economy.

Iceland's parliament voted last week to seek EU membership as a way to stabilize the country's economy, which was one of the first causalities of the global recession after years of strong growth.

The small North Atlantic country of 320,000 residents already meets most of the EU membership criteria, but tough negotiations await over fishing rights.

The independent-minded Icelanders are concerned that the 27-nation bloc's common fisheries policy would give other European fleets access to Iceland's rich waters.

"To be frank with you, if we would get a rotten deal on the fisheries, the Icelandic people would get quite angry," Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson said after presenting the EU application to his Swedish counterpart, Carl Bildt. Sweden currently holds the EU presidency.

"This is not only an issue of economics. It is also an emotional issue. It is also an issue that is related to sovereignty," said Skarphedinsson, a former fisherman.

[. . .]

In 2007, fishing employed 4 percent of Iceland's work force, just over 7,000 people. But seafood accounted for almost half of Iceland's exports and 10 percent of its gross domestic product.