The Credit Crunch

[Coffeehouse]

Well, realistically and in the short term, adopting the Norwegian krone is much more feasible than joining the EU, which Iceland has consistently been against, and adopting the euro, a long process, which not even Denmark, Sweden have completed yet. A currency union is complicated, but doable, while joining the EU would represent a shift that Icelanders may not be willing to take. F.ex., the Icelandic fishing industry is stauncly against membership, understandably, since it would open Icelandic waters to the fleet of fishing boats that roam the seas under Spanish, Portuguese and British flags. A currency union is also possible to dismantle when the time is right, while joining the EU would be a one-wayer.
According to Professor Thórólfur Matthiasson a currency union with Norway is certainly more realistic in that respect since our economies are quite similar, with great emphasis on the fishing industry and on the energy sector. We are also both in the EEC which means we already follow the same set of EU directives. We have a broad range of cultural, economic and geopolitical similarities.