Iceland abandons EU membership application

The leader of the Icelandic Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson, has said that Iceland's brief flirtation with the EU has come to an end.

Very few Icelanders are in favour of EU membership but the Social Democratic Party pressed ahead with a membership application regardless, devoid (as the left usually are) of ideas on how to deal with their economic problems.

Joining the EU would have decimated Iceland's fishing industry which accounts for 40% of exports and provides employment for 7% of the population and would threaten Iceland's low tax regime.  Iceland is currently running a budget surplus of about 5% and its national debt is just 11% of GDP - the EU would jealously destroy that because prosperous countries aren't dependent countries and without economic instability and financial dependence there wouldn't be an EU.