The issue of whether Iceland should reimburse the UK and the Netherlands for €3.9bn lost by British and Dutch savers in the Icesave crash is a bilateral one, and it should not prevent EU leaders from giving their go-ahead at the end of March for the start of EU-Iceland accession negotiations, said Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs at a meeting with EU enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle on 8 March. Some MEPs were sceptical about whether Reykjavik really wishes to join the EU.

‘Icesave is a bilateral file which should not have repercussions on accession,’ said parliament’s leading MEP on Iceland, Cristian Dan Preada. ‘The ball is now in the court of the [European] Council which could open the negotiations before the end of this month,’ added Pat the Cope Gallagher, Chair of the EP Delegation for the relations with Switzerland, Iceland and Norway and European Economic Area (EEA).

Commenting on the Icesave referendum of 6 March in which Icelanders rejected a deal to reimburse the British and Dutch governments for deposits lost in Icesave online savings accounts when Iceland’s Landsbanki collapsed, Füle said: ‘the Commission takes note of the results of the referendum. This is a matter for the people of Iceland to decide. As such, the results of the referendum are quite distinct from Iceland’s accession process. Icesave is a bilateral issue between Iceland and two Member States’. The Commissioner also recommended opening accession talks with Iceland.