Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, has backed opposition calls for a review of its membership of the European Economic Area, which grants the small Nordic nation access to the EU’s lucrative single market. The Foreign Ministry’s report is to look at the potential fallout on Icelandic trade posed by the U.K.’s decision to leave the bloc, as well as the scope for Iceland to have a greater say in EEA decisions. [...]
According to a recent study by Nordic political scientists Baldur Thorhalsson and Anders Wivel, Brexit poses a particular challenge for small countries such as Denmark or Iceland, which have been relying on Britain to defend free trade and counter what they call France and Germany’s “cooperative hegemony over Europe.” [...]
According to Throstur Olafsson, an economist who advised the Foreign Ministry when Iceland negotiated it’s EEA membership, lawmakers who are critical of the EEA are simply using Brexit as a pretext, noting that any changes would have to be agreed by all of its member states.
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