First screening meeting between Iceland and the EU
Today, the first screening meeting between experts from Iceland and the EU Commission took place in Brussels. The screening meetings are part of the preparation for the forthcoming negotiations on Iceland's membership of the EU. The experts analyse the national legislation of the applicant state to evaluate its degree of harmonization with EU legislation which is divided into 33 chapters, each covering a specific policy area. The process is to determine which issues the negotiations will address.
The topic of the first meeting is chapter 5, Public procurement, which is included in the EEA-Agreement. Iceland has already adopted the legislation of this chapter, which includes general principles of transparency, equal treatment, free competition and non-discrimination. The objective of the meeting is to verify its adoption into Icelandic legislation.
Several experts attend the meeting in Brussels on behalf of Iceland. At the same time members of the negotiation team (EEA I), including representatives from interest groups, had the opportunity to follow the meeting in Reykjavik, as it was transmitted via video link.
The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs has already published the timetable for the screening meetings, which are expected to be concluded in June 2011. Further information about the content of individual chapters and Iceland's negotiation committee is to be found at the Ministry's website on Iceland's accession talks.+