Iceland: Liberty Island in the Arctic

... which even managed to overshadow Finland with the latter’s program “Northern Dimension”. As to the real political influence of Iceland in the Arctic, it appears insufficient to meet the current and prospective regional ambitions of the European Union. This is partly evidenced by the fact that in May 2013, the EU (unlike six other bidders) was denied the permanent observer status in the Arctic Council because of a lingering dispute with Canada over trading seal products [6] . There is no doubt whatever, that the failure to join the EU has made Reykjavik radically reconsider the true significance and potential of the Arctic as an external ...