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Iceland applied to join the European Union on 16 July 2009. Negotiations formally began 27 July 2010[1] and, despite Iceland already being heavily integrated into the EU market, will face contentious issues on fisheries which could potentially derail an agreement.[2] After an agreement is concluded, the accession treaty must be ratified by every EU state and be subject to a national referendum in Iceland.[3] Prior to application, Iceland was part of the EU's internal market and the Schengen Area.[4]
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Iceland is a member of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), which is between non-EU European countries, but is integrated into the EU's European Economic Area (EEA) and the Schengen Area. Through the EEA, Iceland participates in a non-voting capacity in certain EU agencies and programmes, including enterprise, environment, education (including the Erasmus Programme[5]) and research programs. Iceland also contributes funds to the social and economic cohesion in the EU/EEA.[4] Iceland also regularly consults the EU in foreign affairs and frequently aligns itself to EU foreign policy. Iceland also participates in EU civilian peacekeeping missions.[5]
Iceland's participation in Schengen ensures free movement of people between itself and the rest of the EU. It is also associated with the Dublin Convention on justice and home affairs cooperation. Iceland's membership of Schengen is due to its previous participation in the Nordic Passport Union which has been subsumed into Schengen as Nordic countries acceded to the EU.[4] Several thousand Icelanders travel to and study or work in the EU. A large majority of the foreigners in Iceland likewise come from the EU.[5]
Economic relations between Iceland and the European Union are primarily governed by two agreements. The first is a bilateral free trade agreement which they signed in 1972 and the second is the agreement on the EEA in 1994. The EEA was established to give Iceland (as well as a few other European countries outside the EU) access to the EU's internal market. Iceland's access to the EU market excludes agriculture and fisheries, these are dealt with by separate bilateral agreements. Iceland is legally bound to implement into its own law all EU directives applicable to the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. This is complemented by regular meetings between EU and Icelandic officials, including a twice-yearly meeting of EEA foreign ministers.[4][6]
| Icelandic-European trade[6] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Direction of trade | Goods (2009) | Services (2008) | FDI (2008) |
| EU to Iceland | €1.34 billion | €502 million | €3.2 billion |
| Iceland to EU | €2.17 billion | €620 million | €6.5 billion |
78% of Icelandic exports went to the EU and 52% of Icelandic imports came from it making the EU Iceland's most important trading partner, followed by Norway. Traditionally, the Icelandic economy focused on fisheries and renewable energy, but it has been diversifying with aluminium production, pharmaceuticals, information technologies, tourism and the financial sector. Iceland is still a large exporter of fish (the third largest exporter to the EU after Norway and China) with a world trade surplus of €1.1 billion in 2008. In fisheries, the EU had a 2009 trade deficit of €879 million. Up until Iceland's 2009 financial crisis, its commercial services sector grew rapidly, accounting for almost 35% of is total exports (goods and services combined).[6]
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From 1995 to 2007 the government coalition of the conservative Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and the liberal Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), opposed joining the EU, while the opposition Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin) supported membership negotiations.
Former Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson predicted on 8 February 2006 that the country would join the EU by 2015. He added that the decisive factor would be the future and the size of the Eurozone, especially whether Denmark, Sweden and the UK would have adopted the euro or not.[7] His prediction received some criticism, not the least from people within his own government.[8]
Another former Prime Minister, Geir H. Haarde, has on a number of occasions stated his opposition to EU membership, both as Foreign Minister under Halldór Ásgrímsson and after taking office as Prime Minister. In response to Halldór Ásgrímsson's earlier prediction, Haarde said, "I don't share that point of view. Our policy is not to join in the foreseeable future. We are not even exploring membership." In a speech at a conference at the University of Iceland on 31 March 2006, Geir Haarde repeated what he had said on a number of occasions—that no special Icelandic interests demanded membership of the EU. In the same speech he further explained in detail why it would not be in the interest of Iceland to adopt the euro.[9]
Following the 2007 election, the Independence Party and the Social Democratic Alliance formed a new coalition with a policy of not applying for membership, but setting up a special committee to monitor the development within the EU and suggest ways to respond to that.[10]
Due to Iceland's limited currency, the government has explored the possibility of adopting the euro without joining the European Union. The EU, however, says that Iceland cannot join the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) without becoming a full EU member state (all other non-EU states do so because they previously used a member state currency that was replaced by the euro).
At a meeting with members of his party on 17 May 2008, Geir Haarde said he believed the cost of joining the EU in his opinion simply outweighed the benefits and therefore he was not in favour of membership.[11] However, in October 2008, during talks to repatriate a portion of Iceland's foreign invested pension funds—Iceland having been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis of September 2008—the unions demanded that Iceland apply for EU membership in return for wage restraint.[12]
On 30 October 2008, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, minister of education said that "Iceland has to define its long-term national interests and part of that is a revision of the currency regime, including a possible EU application" and that application for membership needed to be discussed “in weeks rather than months”.[13]
Two weeks later, on 17 November 2008, the Independence Party announced it would hold its party congress in January 2009 instead of Autumn 2009, to reconsider the possibility of applying for EU membership; the Progressive Party also announced it would hold its party congress in January, after two anti-EU MPs (including the party leader) resigned and were replaced by MPs more positive towards EU application.[14]
The Progressive Party accepted at its congress to support application for EU membership but with very strict conditions including one demanding full authority for Iceland over its fishing grounds and other national resources.[15] When the government headed by the Independence Party dissolved in January the party decided to postpone its congress until March. The congress eventually decided an unchanged opposition to EU membership but also claimed that if the issue were opened by others both an application and a initial accession treaty with the EU should be put to a referendum.[16]
Iceland's finance minister, Steingrimur Sigfusson, ahead of the country's first elections since its banking system collapsed in 2008, stated that "any decision for Iceland to join the European Union and the single currency must be taken by its people, not one political party", on the subject that the issue of EU membership was the greatest threat to a stable coalition.[17]
The 2009 elections, which followed the Icelandic financial crisis, saw the Progressive Party switch to supporting EU membership but the Independence Party called for a referendum prior to the start of negotiations.[18][19][20] The Social Democratic Alliance made joining the EU a key issue in their campaign.[21]
After the win of the pro-EU Social Democratic Alliance in the 2009 election Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir spoke of an immediate application to the European Union and adoption of the euro within four years as a way to deal with the country's debt.[22]
In late April 2009, it was announced that the United Kingdom, a member state of the European Union with whom Iceland has had a long history of fishing and territorial water disputes, supported Iceland joining the EU.[23]
In early May 2009, it was leaked that the issue of application for EU membership would likely be left to the parliament, in which the Alliance, the Progressive Party and the Citizens' Movement together already had enough seats to approve the application.[24] Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the leader of the Progressive Party, strongly objected to the suggestion that his party would assist the government in this matter, however.[25] The anti-EU Left-Green coalition partner accepted that in spring 2010, the minister for foreign affairs would present to the parliament a bill on talks with the EU.[26]
On 10 May 2009, Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir announced that the government intended to move towards membership more quickly than previously expected. She announced that a bill would be introduced in parliament on 15 May 2009, authorising the opening of accession talks with the EU. She also stated that she was confident that the legislation would pass, and that she had secured a parliamentary majority on the issue, despite the official opposition to talks by one of her coalition partners. She went on to say that she expected an official application to be submitted no later than July 2009. This seemed to leave Iceland on course to join the EU along with Croatia in 2011, as predicted by EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn. The government has stated that the issue will be put to a vote once an accession agreement has been negotiated.[27]
The motion to file an application for membership was officially introduced in parliament on 25 May 2009.[28][29] Voting was to have been held on 13 July, but was postponed until 16 July.[30][31][32] First, a proposal by the Independence Party to hold a referendum on the membership application was defeated by 32 to 30 with one abstention. Then the Social Democratic Alliance's proposal to apply for membership immediately was approved with a narrow majority of 33 to 28 votes with 2 abstentions.[33]
| Group | Party | Position | Main argument as stated on party websites | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government | Social Democratic Alliance | Yes | "We want to apply for an EU-membership and start negotiations. We will seek a national unity in this matter and use the national referendum as the highest court."[34] | |
| Left-Green Movement | No | "EU-membership would diminish the independence of Iceland even more than the EEA Agreement does and jeopardise Iceland's control over its resources."[35] | ||
| Opposition | Independence Party | No | "The Independence Party puts forth the clear demand that the application for Iceland's membership of the European Union will be withdrawn without delay."[36] | |
| Progressive Party | No | "The Progressive Party believes the interests of the country and the nation are best secured outside the EU."[37] | ||
| The Movement | ||||
| No seats in the parliament | Citizens' Movement | |||
| Liberal Party | No | EU stance was decided in a party members' poll in January 2009.[38] | ||
To become a member, a country must first apply and then be recognised as a candidate country. For that to happen the country must satisfy the first of the Copenhagen criteria: it must be a politically stable democracy that respects human rights. Then negotiations will take place which will consider the country's fulfilment of economic criteria, the country's degree of adoption of EU legislation, and whether there shall be any exceptions.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has claimed that negotiations on an accession treaty would take less than a year, because Iceland has already adopted two-thirds of EU legislation[39] in relation to the EEA.[40] He has on other occasions claimed that the negotiations could take up to four years.[41]
On 30 January 2009 Rehn commented that Iceland could enter the European Union promptly in 2011, at the same time as Croatia, saying that Iceland is an old democracy but also that it should not get special treatment. Fishing quotas and Icelandic whaling may be the toughest issues in any such negotiations.[42]
On 16 July 2009 the Althing voted in favour of accession talks with the EU (with 33 votes in favour, 28 against, and 2 abstentions).[43] The head of the parliamentary committee on EU affairs, Árni Þór Sigurðsson, has stated that Iceland will not be ready to join the EU any earlier than 2013.[44] However the government stated that it planned to complete negotiations by the end of 2010.[45]
On 17 July 2009 the application for Icelandic membership of the EU was handed to the government of Sweden, which then held the presidency of the Council of the European Union, by the ambassador of Iceland in Stockholm.[46] The application was again handed over by the Icelandic foreign minister to the Swedish one in a ceremony in Stockholm on 23 July 2009.[47]
The letter of application was dated 16 July 2009.[48] The application was acknowledged by the Council of the European Union on 27 July 2009.[49]
Sweden, then holder of the EU presidency, announced that it would prioritise Iceland's EU accession process.[50] On 24 July, the Lithuanian Parliament unanimously approved and gave full support for Iceland’s membership application to join the European Union.[51] Later, on 27 July, Malta also announced that it supports Iceland's EU bid.[52]
In September 2009, the Spanish foreign minister visited Iceland to discuss the progress of the Icelandic application; Spain chaired the EU from January–June 2010. On 8 September, the EU commission sent a list of 2,500 questions to Iceland about its fulfilment of political and economic criteria and adoption of EU law. Iceland returned answers to them on 22 October 2009.[53] On 2 November, Iceland selected a chief negotiator for the membership negotiations with the EU: Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson, Iceland's Ambassador to Belgium.[54]
In January 2010 the Icesave dispute became an issue. The United Kingdom and the Netherlands want the Icelandic government to repay them the costs incurred in covering their citizens' losses due to the bankruptcy of some Icelandic banks. If Iceland does not pay, obstacles to membership could be laid by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. If Iceland agrees to repay the UK and the Netherlands, the added debt will make it difficult to adopt the euro, a major reason for Iceland to join the EU, because of the convergence criteria. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, who then held the Presidency of the European Union, has said that the Icesave dispute does not impact Iceland's application.[55] David Miliband, then British Foreign Minister, reaffirmed the UK's continued support for Iceland's EU application.[55] Additionally, the Dutch Foreign Minister has stated that while the opening of negotiations will not be blocked by the Icesave dispute, it must be resolved before Iceland's accession.[56]
In February 2010, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy recommended to the Council of the European Union to start accession negotiations with Iceland.[57] While it was expected that Iceland would be considered for official candidate status at the EU summit in March, this was delayed to allow the German national parliament, which has the authority to debate important EU policy such as enlargement before action is taken by the government, to consider the matter.[58] The German Parliament voted in favour of opening membership negotiations on the 22 April 2010.[59] The European Council decided in June to begin negotiations,[60] and on 17 June 2010, the EU granted official candidate status to Iceland by formally approving the opening of membership talks.[61]
Negotiations for membership of the EU started on 27 July 2010.,[62] with screening of specific chapters beginning on the 15 November 2010.[63] Iceland became eligible for pre-accession funding from the EU through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) since July 2010[64]
The first annual report on negotiations was published in November 2010:[65] the main issues at stake remain the fisheries sector and whale hunting, while progress has been done concerning the Icesave dispute.[66]
The screen process ended and formal negotiations began on 27 June 2011. Four chapters were opened: science and research; education and culture; public procurement; information society and media. The first two were immediately closed, a first in accession history. Iceland aims to open half of the remaining chapters under the Polish presidency (the second half of 2011) and the other half under the following Danish presidency (first half of 2012). Despite disputes over Icesave and fishing, and the fact there is at present no majority in favour of membership in Iceland, Icelandic Foreign Minister Skarphéðinsson is confident Iceland will join and looks to the EU's flexibility in negotiations with Norway during the 1990s as hope. He does however claim that ultimately it is the major fishing countries of the EU who will influence the outcome of the application.[2]
On 27 June 2011 negotiations began and the first four chapters were opened.[69] It is uncertain how long that would take, but there are expectations that this would be finished during 2012. Thus, Iceland could become an EU member in 2013-14 since it would take around 2 years for all EU member states to ratify the Accession Treaty. It was previously thought that Iceland and Croatia might join the EU at the same time, however, with Croatia set to join the EU on 1 July 2013, Iceland would most likely join later than Croatia, if ever.
| Acquis chapter | EC Assessment At Start | Screening Started | Screening Completed | Chapter Opened | Chapter Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Free Movement of Goods | No major difficulties expected | 7 December 2010 | 8 December 2010[70] | – | – |
| 2. Freedom of Movement For Workers | Generally already applies the acquis | 9 February 2011 | 9 February 2011[71] | 19 October 2011[68] | 19 October 2011[68] |
| 3. Right of Establishment & Freedom To Provide Services | Further efforts needed | 9 December 2010 | 9 December 2010 | – | – |
| 4. Free Movement of Capital | Considerable efforts needed | 10 December 2010 | 10 December 2010 | – | – |
| 5. Public Procurement | No major difficulties expected | 15 November 2010 | 15 November 2010[72] | 27 June 2011[73] | – |
| 6. Company Law | No major difficulties expected | 16 November 2010 | 16 November 2010[74] | 12 December 2011[75] | 12 December 2011[75] |
| 7. Intellectual Property Law | Generally already applies the acquis | 20 December 2010 | 20 December 2010[76] | 19 October 2011[68] | 19 October 2011[68] |
| 8. Competition Policy | Generally already applies the acquis | 6 December 2010 | 6 December 2010[77] | – | – |
| 9. Financial Services | Generally already applies the acquis | 18 November 2010 | 15 December 2010[78] | – | – |
| 10. Information Society & Media | Generally already applies the acquis | 17 November 2010 | 17 November 2010[79] | 27 June 2011[73] | – |
| 11. Agriculture & Rural Development | Considerable efforts needed | 30 November 2010 | 27 January 2011[80] | – | – |
| 12. Food Safety, Veterinary & Phytosanitary Policy | Further efforts needed | 14 February 2011 | 31 March 2011[81] | – | – |
| 13. Fisheries | Considerable efforts needed | 16 December 2010 | 2 March 2011[82] | – | – |
| 14. Transport Policy | Further efforts needed | 4 May 2011 | 9 June 2011 | – | – |
| 15. Energy | No major difficulties expected | 12 May 2011 | 20 June 2011[83] | – | – |
| 16. Taxation | Considerable efforts needed | 3 February 2011 | 4 March 2011[84] | – | – |
| 17. Economic & Monetary Policy | Considerable efforts needed | 17 March 2011 | 17 May 2011[85] | – | – |
| 18. Statistics | Considerable efforts needed | 2 May 2011 | 7 June 2011 | – | – |
| 19. Social Policy & Employment | No major difficulties expected | 7 February 2011 | 16 March 2011[86] | – | – |
| 20. Enterprise & Industrial Policy | Generally already applies the acquis | 12 April 2011 | 25 May 2011[87] | 12 December 2011[75] | 12 December 2011[75] |
| 21. Trans-European Networks | Generally already applies the acquis | 6 May 2011 | 10 June 2011 | 12 December 2011[75] | 12 December 2011[75] |
| 22. Regional Policy & Coordination of Structural Instruments | No major difficulties expected | 31 January 2011 | 22 February 2011[88] | – | – |
| 23. Judiciary & Fundamental Rights | Generally already applies the acquis | 11 January 2011 | 11 February 2011[89] | 12 December 2011[75] | 12 December 2011[75] |
| 24. Justice, Freedom & Security | Further efforts needed | 14 April 2011 | 24 May 2011 | – | – |
| 25. Science & Research | Generally already applies the acquis | 25 November 2010 | 14 January 2011[90] | 27 June 2011 | 27 June 2011[73] |
| 26. Education & Culture | Generally already applies the acquis | 26 November 2010 | 14 January 2011[91] | 27 June 2011 | 27 June 2011[73] |
| 27. Environment | Further efforts needed | 22 November 2010 | 19 January 2011[92] | – | – |
| 28. Consumer & Health Protection | No major difficulties expected | 11 April 2011 | 16 May 2011[93] | – | – |
| 29. Customs Union | Further efforts needed | 8 March 2011 | 6 April 2011[94] | – | – |
| 30. External Relations | No major difficulties expected | 8 April 2011 | 19 May 2011[95] | – | – |
| 31. Foreign, Security & Defence Policy | No major difficulties expected | 7 April 2011 | 20 May 2011 | – | – |
| 32. Financial Control | Considerable efforts needed | 29 November 2010 | 2 February 2011 | – | – |
| 33. Financial & Budgetary Provisions | No major difficulties expected | 7 March 2011 | 4 April 2011[96] | 12 December 2011[75] | – |
| 34. Institutions | Nothing to adopt | – | – | – | – |
| 35. Other Issues | Nothing to adopt | – | – | – | – |
| Progress[97] | 33 out of 33 | 33 out of 33 | 11 out of 33 | 8 out of 33 |
The screening is a series of meetings between the commission and the applicant country examining the level of fulfilment of the EU acquis. It allows candidate countries to familiarise themselves with the acquis and it allows the Commission and the Member States to evaluate the degree of preparedness of candidate countries prior to negotiations.
Various polls have been taken on public opinion regarding starting accession negotiations, joining the EU and adopting the euro, thus joining the eurozone.
| Date | Poller | Question | Yes | No | Unsure |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2005 | Capacent-Gallup for The Federation of Icelandic Industries[98] | Start negotiations | 55% | 37% | 8% |
| Join | 43% | 37% | 20% | ||
| Adopt Euro | 37% | 54% | 9% | ||
| February 2006 | Fréttablaðið [99] | Join | 34% | 42% | 24% |
| September 2007 | Capacent-Gallup [100] | Start negotiations | 59% | 26% | 15% |
| Join | 48% | 34% | 18% | ||
| Adopt Euro | 53% | 37% | 10% | ||
| February 2008 | Fréttablaðið [101] | Join | 55.1% | 44.9% | - |
| More reasons than last year | 54.7% | 7.3% | 38.1% | ||
| 24 November 2008 | Fréttablaðið [102] | Submit application | 60% | 40% | - |
| January 2009 | [103] | Join | 38% | 38% | 24% |
| [104] | Submit application | 40% | 60% | - | |
| March 2009 | [105] | Start negotiations | 64% | 28% | 8% |
| 11 April 2009 | Fréttablaðið [106] | Submit application | 45.6% | 54.4% | 0% |
| 5 May 2009 | Capacent Gallup [107] | Start negotiations | 61% | 27% | 12% |
| Join | 39% | 39% | 22% | ||
| 10 June 2009 | Capacent Gallup [108] | Referendum on application | 76.3% | 17.8% | 5.8% |
| 30 July 2009 | Fréttablaðið [109] | Start negotiations | 51% | 36% | 13% |
| 4 August 2009 | Capacent Gallup [110] | Join | 34.7% | 48.5% | 16.9% |
| 15 September 2009 | Capacent Gallup [108] | Join | 32.7% | 50.2% | 17% |
| If referendum now? | 38.5% | 61.5% | 0% | ||
| Happy with application? | 39.6% | 43.2% | 17.1% | ||
| 5 November 2009 | Bifröst University Research Institute[111][112] | Join | 29.0% | 54% | 17% |
| Start negotiations | 50.5% | 42.5% | 7% | ||
| 28 February 2010 | Capacent Gallup [113] | Join | 33.3% | 55.9% | 10.8% |
| 5 March 2010 | Capacent Gallup [114] | Join | 24.4% | 60% | 15.5% |
| If referendum now? | 30.5% | 69.4% | 0% | ||
| 14 June 2010 | MMR [115] | Withdraw EU application | 57.6% | 24.3% | 18.1% |
| 6 July 2010 | Capacent Gallup [116] | Join | 26% | 60% | 14% |
| 2 September 2010 | Capacent Gallup [117] | Start negotiations | 38.8% | 45.5% | 15.7% |
| 29 September 2010 | Fréttablaðið [118] | Continue with negotiations | 64.2% | 32.8% | 3% |
| 24 January 2011 | Fréttablaðið [119] | Continue with negotiations | 65.4% | 34.6% | 0% |
| 10 March 2011 | Capacent Gallup [120] | Join | 31.4% | 50.5% | 18% |
| If referendum now? | 38.9% | 61.1% | 0% | ||
| 17 March 2011 | MMR [121] | Join | 30% | 55.7% | 14.2% |
| 16 June 2011 | Capacent Gallup [122] | Join | 37.3% | 50.1% | 12.6% |
| 30 June 2011 | Capacent Gallup [123] | Withdraw EU application | 51.0% | 38.5% | 10.5% |
| 11 August 2011 | Capacent Gallup [124] | Join | 35.5% | 64.5% | 0% |
| 12 September 2011 | Fréttablaðið [125] | Continue with negotiations | 63.4% | 36.6% | 0% |
| 16 November 2011 | MMR [126] | Withdraw EU application | 50.5% | 35.3% | 14.2% |
| 17 November 2011 | Capacent Gallup [127] | Continue with negotiations | 53.1% | 46.9% | 0% |
If Iceland were admitted to the EU,[128] its capital Reykjavík would be both the northernmost and westernmost EU capital. The table below shows the coordinates of Reykjavík in comparison to other EU capitals:
| Most northerly EU capitals | Most westerly EU capitals | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country | City | Coordinates | Country | City | Coordinates | |
| Iceland | Reykjavík | Iceland | Reykjavík | |||
| Finland | Helsinki | Portugal | Lisbon | |||
| Estonia | Tallinn | Ireland | Dublin | |||
| Sweden | Stockholm | Spain | Madrid | |||
If Iceland were to be admitted to the EU, it would be the smallest member state in terms of population. Since its area (103,000 km2) is close to the average for EU countries (165,048 km2), it would be the least densely populated country in the EU. The table below shows its population and population density in comparison to some of the other member states.
| Population figures | Population density | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EU rank | Country | Population | EU rank | Country | Population | Area (km2) | Density | |
| Iceland | 319,756 | Iceland | 319,756 | 103,001 | 3.1 | |||
| 27 | Malta | 416,333 | 27 | Finland | 5,350,475 | 338,145 | 15.82 | |
| 26 | Luxembourg | 502,207 | 26 | Sweden | 9,347,899 | 449,964 | 20.77 | |
| 25 | Cyprus | 801,851 | 25 | Estonia | 1,340,274 | 45,226 | 29.64 | |
| 14 | Hungary (EU median) | 10,013,628 | 14 | Portugal (EU median) | 11,317,192 | 92,391 | 109 | |
| EU Average | 18,565,179 | EU Average | 18,565,179 | 160,177 | 115.9 | |||
| 2 | France | 64,709,480 | 2 | Netherlands | 16,576,800 | 41,526 | 399.2 | |
| 1 | Germany | 81,757,595 | 1 | Malta | 416,333 | 316 | 1317.5 | |
Iceland’s GDP per capita is among the highest in Europe as is shown in the following tables (First table is from the statistic of IMF for 2010 and the second one is from the CIA World Factbook statistics for 2009):[129][130]
| EU Ranking | Country | GDP per capita |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | $80,304 |
| 2 | Netherlands | $40,777 |
| 3 | Austria | $39,454 |
| 4 | Ireland | $38,685 |
| 5 | Sweden | $37,775 |
| 6 | Denmark | $36,764 |
| Iceland | $36,681 | |
| EU Average | $30,237 | |
| 27 | Romania | $11,766 |
| EU Ranking | Country | GDP per capita |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxembourg | $78,000 |
| 2 | Ireland | $42,200 |
| Iceland | $39,600 | |
| 3 | Austria | $39,400 |
| 4 | Netherlands | $39,200 |
| EU Average | $32,600 | |
| 27 | Romania | $11,500 |
The Icelandic language would also be one of the smallest official languages of the EU in terms of native speakers (together with Irish and Maltese).
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