Iceland moves towards joining the EU

[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?

The bombs will do that for us.

You will regret developing Smart Bombs some day.

[Neil]

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?

The EU doesn't have the moral strength to confront anyone.  It is adrift and helpless.

[Valmy]

We don't need the EU to get stronger.

Adding a nation with a national debt three times its annual gross national product and has no military of any sort is not going to make the EU any stronger.

[Josquius]

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?

The EU doesn't have the moral strength to confront anyone.  It is adrift and helpless.

Compare this to the Caliphate though.
Even if you think the worst of the EU it still trumps a non-existant entity.

[Legbiter]

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?

Versailles Treaty x 3 for this country. Assuming the tax base dosen't emigrate en masse.

That's the best case scenario.

As to the details, we'll have 27 years to pay off the principal with a 5.5 % interest rate. Which is theoretically doable, provided we slash our education and welfare system down to that of say, Surinam along with with healthy fish stocks and high aluminum prices. 

[Admiral Yi]

Versailles Treaty x 3 for this country. Assuming the tax base dosen't emigrate en masse.

That's the best case scenario.

As to the details, we'll have 27 years to pay off the principal with a 5.5 % interest rate. Which is theoretically doable, provided we slash our education and welfare system down to that of say, Surinam along with with healthy fish stocks and high aluminum prices.

Who's the lender?  What % of GDP do the payments represent?  What percentage of government spending?  Of Exports?  How're the kids?  Is your wife hott?

[Legbiter]

Versailles Treaty x 3 for this country. Assuming the tax base dosen't emigrate en masse.

That's the best case scenario.

As to the details, we'll have 27 years to pay off the principal with a 5.5 % interest rate. Which is theoretically doable, provided we slash our education and welfare system down to that of say, Surinam along with with healthy fish stocks and high aluminum prices.

Who's the lender?  What % of GDP do the payments represent?  What percentage of government spending?  Of Exports?  How're the kids?  Is your wife hott?

I gave you the major points.

If you want details you can read the UK deal here http://www.island.is/media/frettir/innistaedutryggingar_bretand1.pdf

I'm too depressed to read that thing.

The wife is still hot and my sons are doing great.

[Viking]

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?

Versailles Treaty x 3 for this country. Assuming the tax base dosen't emigrate en masse.

That's the best case scenario.

As to the details, we'll have 27 years to pay off the principal with a 5.5 % interest rate. Which is theoretically doable, provided we slash our education and welfare system down to that of say, Surinam along with with healthy fish stocks and high aluminum prices.

Now we just need a Dolchstoss myth and Tanks.

[Neil]

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?

The EU doesn't have the moral strength to confront anyone.  It is adrift and helpless.

Compare this to the Caliphate though.
Even if you think the worst of the EU it still trumps a non-existant entity.

Not at all.  If the EU didn't exist, then perhaps Europe could begin to return to sanity.

[Norgy]

The Icelandic EU application stirs things here too.

I have moved from "Yes" to a very solid "No fucking way".

I don't need to see my taxes being wasted on Sarko's banker friends when they can be wasted here.

[Legbiter]

Now we just need a Dolchstoss myth and Tanks.

This FT editorial said it best concerning our prospects for EU membership.

Tiny Iceland's recent history is a parable of globalisation. Benefiting from footloose capital and light-touch regulation in the good years, the country set sail on the high seas of global finance. The prevailing winds were favourable. Risk-taking was admired. Small was beautiful.

But when crisis came, it hit Iceland like a tidal wave. The island's financial system drowned in debt. The country found itself without a lifeboat. A small but proud nation was reduced to handing round the begging-bowl in Washington, Moscow and London.

Britain, in particular, has proved itself a fair-weather friend, last week forcing Iceland to agree an unequal deal whereby Icelandic taxpayers will bear the burden of repaying $3.8 billion to naive British savers. The benefits of size have never seemed so clear.

Icelanders are not a traditionally clubbable nation. But after prolonged soul-searching, their parliament has now narrowly voted to apply to join the biggest club of them all: the European Union.

In Brussels, the vote has been interpreted as further proof that the EU may not be feared, but it is still loved. Commission President José Manuel Barroso claimed it as evidence of the "vitality of the European project" and the "hope that Europe represents". Perhaps.

But it will not be plain sailing ahead. Though much of EU law already applies in Iceland, negotiations on what remains will be tough. Fisheries will be a major obstacle. Any deal could yet be rejected by the Icelandic people. The attractions of a safe haven in Brussels – and of the euro in particular – may diminish with the dying gales of the global storm.

Talk of fast-tracking Icelandic membership is misplaced. Since Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007, progress on EU enlargement has been glacial. France and Germany have made clear there will be no agreement on new negotiations before the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

Iceland is not Turkey. The barriers to its quick membership of the European Union are not so fundamental. But Iceland's bid may fall victim to bureaucratic gridlock and to political manoeuvring in other areas. It is privately accepted that Iceland could not join before Croatia, whose membership is currently stalemated by Slovenia. A best-case scenario would not see an Icelandic commissioner in Brussels before 2012. Reykjavik ought not be made to wait longer.

Icelanders should not hold their breath, but the EU must not drag its feet.

[Norgy]

Legs, I hope you make it.

Don't come complaining when you have 2 million Romanian raping the land.

[Martinus]

I would imagine that the 'loot and plunder' EU would be happy for another biosphere to rape.

Since when you are against biosphere raping? 

[Martinus]

Plus, we (when we get this banking crisis over with) will be net contributors.

That's not enough.  We will want you to be harpoon contributors, too.

[Martinus]

Centuries of culture and heritage...sold out for free EU monies.

Actually that's the best thing about the EU, and I mean it only half-jokingly.

In fact, this very mechanism is what I'm counting on when it comes to Poland.