Latest news with #Frostadóttir
Euronews
17-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Iceland to launch talks on security, defence partnership with EU
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the EU will launch talks on a security and defence partnership with Iceland. "We will cooperate more closely on hybrid threat response, civil protection and secure communications," von der Leyen said in a post on X after a press conference in Keflavík with Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir. Frostadóttir said she was hopeful that talks would conclude by the end of the year. "This is very important for us to show that we can have cooperation on critical infrastructure, civil protection, any sort of dual use defence investment and this also includes hybrid and cyber threats," she said. This agreement with the EU is independent of Iceland's NATO membership and existing defence agreements with the United States, national public broadcaster RÚV said. "With this agreement, Iceland has also entered the European security and defines cooperation," von der Leyen said. "There are already eight allied countries, including Norway, the United Kingdom and Canada. With this agreement, you will gain access to our SAFE project, which invests around €150 billion per year in security and defence." At the meeting, Frostadóttir also said a comprehensive review of Iceland's terms of trade with the European Union, announced in December 2023, would start soon. Iceland's government said in December that it aims to put the question of EU membership to a referendum by 2027. Frostadóttir's administration also said it would set up a panel of experts to look into the advantages and disadvantages of retaining the Icelandic crown over adopting the Euro. According to a poll conducted last June by market research company Maskína, support for EU membership among Iceland's population is growing. That poll found just over 54% of respondents were in favour of joining the bloc, with the majority saying they thought households would be financially better off as part of the EU. That was a significant swing in favour of membership in a country that has generally been ambivalent about joining the EU.
Euronews
09-04-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Geopolitical shifts will affect Iceland's EU referendum, says prime minister
ADVERTISEMENT The powerful shifts shaking the geopolitical order, from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump, will influence Iceland's plan to hold a referendum on EU accession by 2027, Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir has said while stressing the need to have a "balanced" discussion about the crucial decision. "Before 2027, we want to see if the nation wants to reopen these (accession) negotiations. And I'm sure the current geopolitical situation will affect it," Frostadóttir told Euronews during an official visit to Brussels on Wednesday. "My biggest concern is that we (won't) be able to have a good debate about what it means to open the negotiations, that we will have a polarised debate about this." Asked if Iceland would feel safer inside the bloc, the prime minister said the country already felt safe "where we are right now" and suggested deliberations on membership encompass a wider range of topics, such as trade, economy, finance and culture. "The EU isn't a defence alliance in and of itself, even though it's building itself up," she said, referring to the bloc's €800-billion rearmament initiative . "We should join the EU as part of a broader picture. I don't want to drive our EU accession talks based on fear," she added. "But of course, security is going to come up. And, you know, we might see a lot of changes in the coming weeks and months that might affect this." Iceland submitted its first application to join the EU in 2009 and opened negotiations with Brussels the following year. However, the bid was withdrawn in 2015. Still, the island remains part of the Schengen Area and the European Economic Area (EEA), and its legislation is closely aligned with the bloc's rules. Frostadóttir's administration, which took office in December last year, aims to put the question of whether to resume accession talks to a referendum no later than 2027 . Her government has also said it would set up a panel of independent experts to examine the possible advantages and disadvantages of adopting the euro. "The last time we went through this process, there wasn't an initial vote asking the public whether they wanted to start this process," Frostadóttir said. "I think that was a mistake." Support for EU membership among Icelandic citizens has steadily grown. A poll by the firm Prósent released in January showed 45% of respondents in favour of joining the bloc, with 35% opposed and 20% neither for nor against. Meanwhile, a higher share of 58% backed the celebration of a referendum on the resumption of accession talks and 53% were favourable to adopting a new currency. Under Trump's long shadow Iceland, like other European nations, is currently feeling the squeeze of the fronts opened on the East by Russia's aggression and on the West by Trump's disruptive policies. The White House has slapped the wealthy country of less than 400,000 people with the baseline 10% tariff. This means it has been spared from the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" that Trump has imposed on the "worst offenders", which vary in intensity. The "reciprocal" rates went into effect on Wednesday morning. The EU has been hit with a 20% rate, which Brussels considers "neither justified nor credible". The European Commission wants to find a "negotiated solution" with the Trump administration but has vowed to retaliate hard if the negotiations fail. The first raft of countermeasures is set to be approved on Wednesday afternoon. ADVERTISEMENT For its part, Iceland will refrain from engaging in a tit-for-tat. "We are not going to respond with our own tariffs. We believe in free trade. We're a small economy," Frostadóttir said in the interview. "Hopefully we'll see these tariffs go down." "Our biggest concern now is an escalation of this because, obviously, most of our trade goes to Europe. We are very driven by exports and imports. And so anything that might affect prices and the way we do business is going to affect our economy," she added. The Prime Minister said she respected the "fact that the EU needs to put its foot down" and demonstrate "strength" against Washington but insisted that any countermeasure should avoid inflicting pain on the bloc's neighbours. ADVERTISEMENT "We also need a clear message from the EU that they also respect the relationship with its main trading partners," she said. "It's important that the EU shows that we are truly partners in the internal market, that trade won't be affected." Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir spoke with Euronews' Méabh Mc Mahon. Euronews. Frostadóttir also weighed in on the threats posed by Trump's expansionist agenda, in particular his stated desire to annex Greenland, the sprawling mineral-rich island that belongs to the Kingdom of Denmark. Trump has not refused to rule out the use of economic coercion or military force to seize the semi-autonomous territory. "It's concerning. I will say it's gravely concerning," the prime minister said. "We are a wholly Arctic nation. The Arctic is our home. It's not just a concept in international relations for us. It's where we live. And we have very strong ties to the Greenlandic people. So this is of grave concern." ADVERTISEMENT Tensions around Greenland reached a new height last week when US Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance visited the territory without being invited by the local government. Vance excoriated Denmark for having "underinvested" in Greenland and said the US had "no other option" than to increase its presence on the island. "Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland," Vance said. The Icelandic prime minister said this "type of talk" should not be "considered respectable" and expressed support for Greenland's right to self-determination. She also raised the alarm about Russia's growing presence in the Arctic region. "Small countries like Iceland thrive on the fact that we have international law, that borders are respected," she said. ADVERTISEMENT The Arctic is "supposed to be a peaceful zone. That's always the way we've tried to keep it. However, we can't be naive about the fact that there are a lot of interests involved." In less than three months, Trump's approach to trade, Greenland and Russia's war on Ukraine has plunged EU-US relations into an all-time low. The transformation has left countries in the bloc's periphery, like Iceland, Norway and the UK, caught in the middle. "Iceland really thrives on that transatlantic unity being in place," the prime minister said. "It's changing. It's changing for sure," she admitted. "That uncertainty is uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable for a lot of people." ADVERTISEMENT
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The world's youngest leaders
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The political leaders of the US, UK and Russia are 78, 62 and 72 years old respectively, but these men are bucking the global trend of younger politicians taking office. "Across continents," said Times of India, "a fresh wave" of youthful leadership is "surging" and "defying stereotypes", while "injecting new energy" into the political scene. Here are five who are leading the way. When she was voted in last year at the age of 36, Frostadóttir became Iceland's youngest ever leader and the world's youngest serving head of government. Her election also meant the country had a female prime minister and a female president – Halla Tómasdóttir – at the same time. Frostadóttir, a "relative newcomer" to politics, was previously an economist and a journalist, said The Observer. When she became PM, she said she wanted to take a different approach to dealing with opponents: rather than "telling them off" she wanted to focus on listening. Traoré seized power in Burkina Faso in the September 2022 coup d'état that ousted his fellow military officer Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba and has been the interim leader since then. "I know I'm younger than most of you here," he told government officials as he took office, said the BBC. His support base is dominated by young people, which "raises significant questions about the sentiments of the youth", said Patrick K. Adu on a West Africa Civil Society Institute blog. Is it "praise" for the "undemocratic regime" he heads, or does it reflect a "quest for more young leaders"? When he took office at the age of 35, Noboa became the second-youngest president in Ecuador's history and the youngest to be elected. A 25-year-old supporter told Al Jazeera Noboa's election was a "triumph for the youngest". The heir to one of Ecuador's richest families, which made its fortune in banana exports, Noboa is another newcomer to national politics. He has only been a member of the National Assembly since 2021. The Montenegrin prime minister took office in October 2023, having entered politics after the 2020 election when he was appointed minister of finance. The focus of his campaign to become PM was a promise to raise the minimum wage and increase minimum pensions. The "Europhile who was a political outsider until three years ago" wants his country to join the EU, said Politico. He has described Montenegro as "low-hanging fruit" for an EU "eager to show enlargement isn't just an empty slogan". A former student protest leader, Boric became Chile's youngest-ever president at the age of 35 when he defeated a far-right candidate in December 2021. He was seen as a youthful moderniser, winning "on a promise to turn Chile into a greener, more egalitarian 'welfare state'", said Agence France-Presse. However, his "attempts to replace the country's dictatorship-era constitution with a more progressive text", allowing abortions and strengthening Indigenous rights, were rejected in a referendum. Jean-Claude Duvalier was just 19 when he became president of Haiti in 1971. The youngest president in US history is Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, who was thrust into the hot seat in 1909 at the comparatively ancient age of 42. As for the UK, in 1783 William Pitt the Younger became the world's youngest ever prime minister at the age of 24.
