Iceland moves towards joining the EU

[Legbiter]

Is Croatia getting in or do they still have to wait for the Lisabon Treaty?

Slovenia is being a complete asshole with the Piran border dispute.

[Legbiter]

After all their misfortunes I think the Icelanders deserve a bit of coddling from the EU.

I'll settle for some from you.

[Neil]

The obvious solution:  Declare war on the UK.  If you win, the debt is gone and Britain is humbled for their dangerous behavior.  If you lose, the UK will fix you up and build you an economy.

[Warspite]

Is Croatia getting in or do they still have to wait for the Lisabon Treaty?

The Lisbon Treaty was irrelevant to Croatia's entry; the general consensus with member governments that mattered and the EU Commission was that it would be enlargement after Croatia that would need a treaty.

The problem is however the ridiculous border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia.

Maritime borders were never fixed in the old Yugoslavia, so the line of delineation between Croatian and Slovenian waters was not set, and the principle of uti possidetis could not apply.

The issue was put on ice for a while in various ways, but never resolved. The dispute always remained open. Now what is irksome is that Slovenia was permitted to enter the EU despite having these border disputes. One precondition of entry is that the country declare it has no disputes. So this affair was not considered important enough for the Slovenian entry to be delayed. Simply put, Croatia claims an equidistant border whereas Slovenia claims an equitable one (consult the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea for the tedious details of the difference).

However, over the last year the Slovenian government (thanks to the usual Balkan problem of nationalist parties making noise in parliament, etc etc) claimed Croatia had prejudged the issue by submitting maps showing a border there etc etc.

The Croatian government of Ivo Sanader, who resigned two weeks ago (we're not sure why yet), staked all on two things: NATO entry (achieved) and EU entry. He was willing to go to the ICJ for neutral arbitration (which the Slovenes refuse to do - which is usually a good indicator of how confident they really are in their case). He also submitted to EU proposals for mediation (which would treat the issue as political, rather than legal). The Slovenes withdrew from that too.

Basically the Slovenes are trying to force a favourable solution to this most minor of disputes (it's a few hundred metres of water that would mean nothing once Croatia were in the EU) by blackmailing their neighbour from a position of power (all EU entry approval has to be unanimous). And who can blame them for trying.

What pisses me off, as someone with background in Balkan security studies, is that the EU is not really trying to resolve this issue by pressuring the Slovenes to settle this outside the EU membership framework. The reason is that a) it opens a whole can of worms, setting a border-dispute-blackmail precedent that will be ten times worse with other ex-Yugoslav states and b) the EU has no other security strategy in the former Yugoslavia apart from enlargement.

Fine, you might say, who needs those ex-Yugos anyway. That's fine, except EU membership is the only carrot that is propelling key justice and economic reforms in Croatia and Serbia (and Bosnia, to the paltry extent they take place). If the process grinds to a halt and falls apart, then you're removing that key incentive for good governance reform.

The only long-term alternative then becomes a prophylactic strategy - keep the cross-border effects criminal networks and basket case economies out of the EU with expensive barriers. Which is hardly an ideal solution.

[Admiral Yi]

The next item on the agenda will be Parliament agreeing on the Icesave deal between us and the UK & the Netherlands.

What are the terms of the deal?

[Tonitrus]

Time to annex Greenland into it's proper place in the North American Imperium.

[Ed Anger]

Time to annex Greenland into it's proper place in the North American Imperium.

And bomb Denmark.

[Zanza]

It's ridiculous that Croatia can't join because of that minor border dispute but Cyprus was allowed to join with a massive unsolved conflict.

And if you go back further in history, I'd say Germany had some disputes about territory too in 1957.

[Siege]

We don't need the EU to get stronger.

[Syt]

Time to annex Greenland into it's proper place in the North American Imperium.

And bomb Denmark.

Wouldn't you guys have to find it on a map first?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

The obvious solution:  Declare war on the UK.  If you win, the debt is gone and Britain is humbled for their dangerous behavior.  If you lose, the UK will fix you up and build you an economy.

lol, that's not a halfstupid idea 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Well the Scots joined the UK when they buggered up their economy back in the 1700s, the English covered the debt in return. Maybe Iceland should join the UK on similar terms?

[Ed Anger]

Time to annex Greenland into it's proper place in the North American Imperium.

And bomb Denmark.

Wouldn't you guys have to find it on a map first?

The bombs will do that for us.

[Alatriste]

Time to annex Greenland into it's proper place in the North American Imperium.

And bomb Denmark.

Wouldn't you guys have to find it on a map first?

The bombs will do that for us.

Yeah, they aren't called 'smart bombs' because they read the classics.... now, that they were ever developed says a lot about their users, doesn't it? 

[Josquius]

We don't need the EU to get stronger.

Why?
Surely as one of the believers in the big evil muslim menace threatening to overwhelm the world a strong 'christian' country is just what the doctor ordered?

But anyway; new members make the EU weaker.