Members of Iceland's parliament, the Althingi, led by a centralist coalition government voted on Thursday in favour of starting membership talks with the EU.

The Independence Party (which oversaw the deregulation of Iceland's banking system) was swept from power by the collapse of Iceland's financial sector last year, but still opposes EU membership

The issue of joining the European Union had never been discussed
The Independence party under the rule of David Oddsson was against it; it was their mission to keep it that way, no matter what the public said.
They knew, but did nothing.


Iceland could be fast-tracked to join the EU within two years, to help the small Nordic state out of its economic crisis, a top EU official said.


However, the final decision to join the bloc would need approval by all Icelanders in a referendum - so it's a little early to jump to any forgone conclusions


In fact, Iceland already meets up to 75 per cent of the criteria for membership but there are some, even within the Social Democrat/Green government that fear that it would harm Iceland's fishing industry.

Fishing in Iceland accounts for more than 36 per cent of the country's exports.