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Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Minister Skarphéðinsson meets with Irish Minister for European Affairs

Lucinda Creighton og Össur Skarphéðinsson

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland, met this afternoon with Lucinda Creighton, Irish Minister for European Affairs. Ireland holds the Presidency of the Council of European Union in the first half of 2013. This is the second visit of Minister Creighton to Iceland in just over a year.

In their meeting the Ministers discussed the Irish Presidency priorities for the next 6 months, including EU enlargement. They discussed Iceland‘s accession talks with the EU and  the agreement between the governmental parties on management of EU accession negotiations in the run-up to parliamentary elections.

The Foreign Minister took up the state of mackerel talks with the EU and Norway and expressed his disappointment with their decision to issue mackerel quotas, claiming  90 per cent of the scientifically recommended 2013 total mackerel catch. He empasized the need for all parties to work together to find a permanent and sustainable solution, solving  the issue at the negotiating table.

Minister Skarphéðinsson furthermore raised the Icesave issue, as judgement on the issue is expected by the EFTA court on Monday 28 January. The Minister stressed the importance of respecting the outcome and reminded of the fact that about half of all deposits on Icesave accounts had already been paid from the estate of Landsbanki, which held the accounts

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