"Crediamo nel libero scambio", afferma Frostadóttir
In un'intervista esclusiva a Euronews, la prima ministra islandese Kristrún Frostadóttir ha ribadito il suo impegno per il libero scambio rifiutando i dazi di ritorsione contro gli Stati Uniti.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2025/04/15/crediamo-nel-libero-scambio-afferma-frostadottir
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
In un'intervista esclusiva a Euronews, la prima ministra islandese Kristrún Frostadóttir ha ribadito il suo impegno per il libero scambio rifiutando i dazi di ritorsione contro gli Stati Uniti.
ALTRE INFORMAZIONI : http://it.euronews.com/2025/04/15/crediamo-nel-libero-scambio-afferma-frostadottir
Abbonati, euronews è disponibile in 12 lingue.
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00:00Our guest today on the Europe Conversation is the Prime Minister of Iceland, Chrystorun Fróstadóttir.
00:14She's planning on holding a referendum on EU membership by 2027
00:18and tells us she hopes the talks are not driven by fear.
00:24Prime Minister Fróstadóttir, welcome to Euronews and welcome to Brussels.
00:28It's your very first time.
00:30It is my first time.
00:31First time here and first time as Prime Minister.
00:33Yes.
00:34So what will be your message to EU leaders when you meet them?
00:36Our message for EU leaders is we need to make sure that Iceland and the other EFTA countries
00:42are considered as countries within the internal market because we're worried right now.
00:48We're worried because of the tariffs.
00:51We got a 10% tariff from the US, but we're worried that we'll see an escalation.
00:58of this tariff war and there might be some spillovers that might affect our trade relationship
01:04with the EU.
01:04And it's very important that they know that for a future relationship and also just to
01:09keep supply chains open, that we're part of the loop.
01:11Because you're a small economy, of course.
01:13And what should be the response from the EU to these tariffs?
01:15I mean, we respect the fact that they want to show their strength.
01:21We respect the fact that the EU needs to put its foot down.
01:25But we also need a clear message from the EU that they also respect the relationship with
01:30its main trading partners.
01:32We've always had a historically very good relationship with the EU.
01:36Iceland has upheld all its responsibilities when it comes to the EEA.
01:40And so just for ongoing positive association and relationship with the EU, I think it's
01:45important that the EU shows that we are truly partners in the internal market and that trade
01:52won't be affected.
01:53And you said 10% for now.
01:55I saw your finance minister.
01:56He wasn't too stressed for now.
01:58But what is Iceland's response to these tariffs?
02:00We are not going to respond with our own tariffs.
02:04I mean, we believe in free trade.
02:06We're a small economy.
02:07Our strength in that sense is more how we negotiate our ways through those tariffs, but also how
02:15we engage with other countries.
02:17So we won't be engaging in counter tariffs.
02:21Hopefully, we'll see these tariffs go down.
02:24But we're also aware of the fact that in comparison to other countries, this is a lower tariff.
02:31I will say our biggest concern now is an escalation of this, because obviously most of our trade
02:39goes to Europe.
02:40We're very driven by exports and imports.
02:44And so anything that might affect prices and the way we do business is going to affect our
02:50economy directly.
02:51And tell me about the potential EU referendum that you might be having in Iceland as soon
02:56and it's 2027.
02:58Is this debate happening because of the geopolitical tensions of late?
03:02Not initially, I would say, though I'm sure it will affect the way we talk about this.
03:08My government decided to put the reopening of EU negotiations on the table.
03:16That's what this vote is about.
03:18Last time when we went through this process, there wasn't an initial vote asking the public
03:23whether they wanted to start this process.
03:24I think that was a mistake.
03:27I think a lot of people feel like it would have been an easier process for us domestically
03:31if we had been more in line with public opinion at the time, at least asked the nation what they
03:36feel about this.
03:38So before 2027, we want to see if the nation wants to reopen these negotiations.
03:44And I'm sure the current geopolitical situation will affect it.
03:48But I mean, my biggest concern is that we're not able to have a good debate about what it
03:54means to open the negotiations, that we will have a polarised debate about this.
04:01This is obviously, I think, what most politicians are worried about.
04:04And so hopefully we can, you know, get a balanced discussion about EU membership.
04:09And just on the nitty gritty, last time EU membership was up in Iceland, one of the biggest
04:14obstacles, if not the biggest, was your country's fishing industry.
04:17And of course, fishing rights.
04:18Has that changed?
04:19And are the locals now willing to share their fleet?
04:22I think that will be our biggest concern.
04:26That's also my biggest concern.
04:28And so I think it's important that we get to a stage that if we open up these negotiations,
04:33that we start off with the difficult discussions first, we left sort of agriculture and the
04:38fisheries to be the last chapters that were open.
04:42And I think it's important for the Icelandic people, if they decide to open these negotiations
04:47with the vote, that they see firsthand how we can negotiate through that.
04:56We're going to have to see what comes out of it at this point.
04:59But we won't know until we start the negotiations.
05:01And how will Norway feel?
05:03Will they be worried about the impact on EFTA and on the EA?
05:06I'm sure it's going to affect the Norwegians in the same way as if the Norwegians were
05:12to join the EU, it would affect us.
05:14I think everyone is aware of that.
05:17This is obviously a topic that is of discussion there.
05:20But like in Iceland, even though this is an international engagement matter, it's still
05:25a domestic issue.
05:26It's an internal matter.
05:28So it's not mine to comment on it.
05:29But it's for the Norwegian prime minister and for the parliament there to decide.
05:35But one issue you could perhaps comment on is Donald Trump, the US president's various
05:39comments about poaching land from other countries.
05:42We saw just last week his vice president, J.D.
05:44Vance, over in Greenland.
05:45And Putin has hinted he might take Svalbard.
05:49They both want a piece of the Arctic Sea and you're next to it.
05:52How does that make you feel?
05:53It's concerning.
05:55I will say it's gravely concerning.
05:58We are a wholly Arctic nation.
06:00I mean, the Arctic is our home.
06:02It's not just a concept in international relations for us.
06:05It's where we live.
06:07And we have very strong ties to the Greenlandic people.
06:11So this is of grave concern.
06:13I mean, our message has been and will continue to be you have to respect the sovereignty of
06:18nations.
06:18The future of Greenland will be decided by the Greenlandic people.
06:22They've only just now had a new government formed.
06:26And so it's very positive, I would say, to see the unity of that government because it's
06:31broad based.
06:33This is obviously a type of talk that should not be considered respectable or OK.
06:40Small countries like Iceland, they thrive on the fact that we have international law,
06:44that borders are respected.
06:46But what about an army?
06:47You don't have an army.
06:49We don't have an army, but we are a full-fledged NATO member.
06:52We're one of the founding members of NATO.
06:54We have a bilateral defense agreement with the US.
06:56And so our defenses have been based on that sort of international cooperation.
07:01But it is affecting our discussions of security and defense, for sure.
07:05Well, you mentioned the bilateral relations you have with the United States.
07:09Of course, European-US relations now are at a historical low.
07:13There's zero trust there.
07:14And how's that impacting you then?
07:15It's always been our message to the EU and European countries.
07:19Whatever makes EU stronger and the Europeans stronger makes it a stronger ally for the US.
07:24And so it's very important for us that any security engagement, any sort of change in that relationship doesn't mean that it's excluding the US,
07:34but that it's maybe changing the relationship between the two, because Iceland really thrives on that transatlantic unity being in place.
07:43But obviously we're aware.
07:44But it's not in place now.
07:45It's changing.
07:46It's changing for sure.
07:47And I think that uncertainty is uncomfortable.
07:50It is uncomfortable for a lot of people.
07:52That's why we are going through this process of reviewing our security and defense policy.
07:57And as a European leader, you're spending so much time probably reacting to what President Trump said, what he tweeted when you have to run your country as well.
08:04I wasn't expecting to be this much in the international sphere.
08:09When I ran, I mean, I ran on pure social democratic policies, welfare, housing, economy.
08:17I ran on sort of a domestic focus.
08:20But now we're seeing the international politics sort of come into our arms.
08:25And it's just something you have to engage with when you're in this job.
08:28I ran on a platform that had direct talks with people instead of just on social media.
08:35We did trips around the country.
08:36We did open meetings.
08:37The same has to happen with international relations.
08:41It can't just be something that happens in bureaucratic institutions abroad, away from us.
08:46It has to be in the public domain as well.
08:48And that's going to be the biggest.
08:49It's going to be the biggest challenge, making security in Iceland a concrete matter for the everyday household.
08:56And that's what we're going through right now.
08:58And another topic did you run on perhaps as well, climate change, global warming.
09:01It could change the Arctic as we know it.
09:03It could change the Arctic, definitely.
09:05It also creates, interestingly, these economic opportunities as well.
09:12In the north of Iceland, we see mineral opportunities in Greenland.
09:17We see shipping routes coming up.
09:19But we're also worried for our own economy when it comes to the fisheries, when it comes to changing of the ocean.
09:27So this is something that's going to be very important for us.
09:30Well, while you're in town, actually, this week, the EU-Ukraine Association meeting is taking place with the Prime Minister, Denis Shemel, in town.
09:38How is the war in Ukraine impacting you?
09:41It's raised security concerns in Iceland, even though Ukraine is geographically further from us than maybe mainland Europe.
09:52I do think it's made Icelanders, you know, aware of the fact that this security umbrella or this peaceful umbrella that we've been living under over the past few decades, it isn't a given.
10:07We've also had sort of muted security discussions in Iceland over the past few decades, I would say.
10:13The American military left in 2005-2006, and there hasn't been an open discussion about security threats in Iceland for a long time.
10:22And now all of a sudden we're seeing this in our backyard.
10:25So obviously our support is fully with the Ukrainian people.
10:29We've had, you know, donations going there, both on military aid and humanitarian aid.
10:36But it's also changing the security landscape.
10:39And it's something that we have to push forward with.
10:41Would you feel safer inside the European Union?
10:45So we feel safe where we are right now.
10:47I wouldn't consider EU discussions or EU accessions as driven by security in and of itself.
10:54I've often had this question, especially because we saw Sweden and Finland joining NATO sort of on the back of these security concerns.
11:03But NATO is a security alliance, right?
11:06It's a defense alliance.
11:07The EU isn't a defense alliance in and of itself, even though it's building itself up.
11:13We should join the EU as part of a broader picture.
11:17I don't want to drive our EU accession talks based on fear.
11:21I don't want it based on this is the only possibility we have.
11:24This is the only way forward for Iceland.
11:26This is the only way to progress.
11:28I think that's going to lead to a polarizing debate.
11:31I think it's more important to look at EU membership as a broad spectrum.
11:38Culture, economy, finances.
11:41You know, where do we belong?
11:42Where do we do muster trade?
11:44Where do we want to be a part of?
11:46So a lot of challenges for you as you just mark 100 days in office.
11:50Prime Minister, thank you so much for being our guest here on the Europe Conversation.
11:54See you soon.
11:54Thank you.