First meeting of the consultative group for Iceland‘s accession negotiations

The consultative group for Iceland‘s accession negotiations with the European Union held its first meeting at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Friday the 24th of February. The chairperson of the group is Salvör Nordal, philosopher and director of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Iceland. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, historian and president of the Historical Society of Iceland and Ágúst Sigurðsson, rector of the Agricultural University of Iceland, serve as vice-chairmen.

The group is composed by 21 other member that were appointed with regards to gender balance, balance between regions, urban and rural areas, and different views on European Affairs. Its purpose is to hold regular meetings with Iceland's negotiation committee, to obtain information on the progress of the accession negotiations and share that information with the public in order to maintain constructive discussions on the accession process in the Icelandic mainstream discourse.

During the meeting, Stefán Haukur Jóhannesson, Iceland's chief negotiator, discussed the progress of the accession negotiations and introduced the negotiations' website , esb.utn.is, where all relevant data and information on the accession talks can be found.