Straight-talking on the EU

Guðlaug­ur Þór Þórðar­son, MP for the Independence Party.

Guðlaug­ur Þór Þórðar­son, MP for the Independence Party. Ó​mar Óskars­son

“The only way we shall be able to continue with this debate is if Honourable Members, who have had ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with what membership of the European Union involves, are forthright and discuss matters on the basis of the opinions they have formed.”

This is the view of Guðlaug­ur Þór Þórðar­son, MP for the Independence Party (‘Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn’), as expressed during discussions in parliament today on the subject of parliamentary work. He praised Róbert Marshall, MP for Bright Future (‘Björt framtíð’), for openly stating in parliament last week that he would like to see Iceland join the European Union. According to Þórðarson, straight-talking of this kind must be the basis of any constructive and informed debate on the subject.

“We seem to be playing, Mister Speaker, a peculiarly Icelandic game, where the players pretend not to know what membership of the European Union involves and speak on that basis. I do not know of anywhere else where such a game is played. But, here, the Honourable Gentleman [Róbert Marshall] stood up and very clearly spoke out,” Þórðarson continued.

He added that it was only to be expected that Marshall should have formed an opinion on such a major issue as membership of the European Union given his involvement in debates on the subject and his long political career. He expressed his wish to see the matter discussed on the basis of fact rather than quite different considerations.

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