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Parliament Thumbs Up for Iceland's EU Accession Bid The European Parliament approved the prospect of Iceland joining the EU in the near future but urged the country to suspend whaling in a resolution adopted on Wednesday.
MEPs backed the recent decision by EU leaders to open accession talks with the Nordic country, which, following the devastation of its banking system in the global financial crisis, is hoping to join the bloc by 2012.
The resolution, drafted by Romanian MEP Cristian Dan Preda (European People's Party), notes the country's "strong democratic culture" and states that Icelandic membership would allow the EU to play a more active role in the Arctic region.
Iceland, an island of 320,000 people in the far north of Europe, had been reluctant to join the bloc for decades and only applied last year when the global financial crisis devastated its banking system.
It is hoping for speedy accession talks, since it is far better prepared than other EU hopefuls and already belongs to the EU's single market and its Schengen borderless zone.
But its aspirations are now tied partially to a dispute with the Netherlands and Britain over billion in debts lost in the country's banking collapse in late 2008.
Tags: European parliament, Iceland, Netherlands, Britain, Schengen
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