Iceland’s EU Accession Negotiations

This report, conducted by the University of Iceland's Institute of International Affairs, surveys Iceland’s accession process with the European Union, how it proceeded and the status of the application when put on hold in early 2013.

Iceland applied for membership of the European Union (EU) in July of 2009 and was formally acknowledged as a candidate country by all 27 member-states of the EU a year later. Then a so-called screening process began – involving a systematic comparison of Icelandic and EU law – which took another year to complete. Therefore, two years passed from when Iceland first applied until the actual accession negotiations began. In the 18 month period of active negotiations, prior to them being put on hold in early 2013, 27 out of 33 chapters were opened for negotiation and Iceland presented its negotiating position in 29 chapters. 

A summary of the report can be accessed here.