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Iceland officially applies for EU membership

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Iceland officially applied to join the European Union on Thursday, with its foreign minister targeting membership within three years.

BRUSSELS, July, 23 (RIA Novosti) - Iceland officially applied to join the European Union on Thursday, with its foreign minister targeting membership within three years.

"This is the day when I have the historic duty to hand in formally the Icelandic application to the E.U.," Foreign Minister Oessur Skarphedinsson said at a presentation ceremony in Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the application would be dealt with "in the same way as the other membership bids."

According to Bildt, Iceland's membership in the EU will let diligently cooperate with "the Arctic region which is extremely important regarding to ecological and sea routes matters."

The request had to be approved by the EU and after that Icelanders will vote on it in a referendum. The key issue is likely to be the EU's fisheries policy, long a difficult topic within the bloc and one of Iceland's most important industries.

The Icelandic parliament believes that joining the EU and adoption of the euro currency will help to restore the health of the economy after the devastating economic meltdown, which saw the top Icelandic banks collapse last year.

 

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