Is Iceland going to become the next country to join the EU?

Well, stranger things have happened. Iceland's Prime Minister, Geir Haarde has announced the creation of a commission to analyse whether Iceland should join the EU, while the Icelandic Foreign Ministry has drafted an action plan that would see the country make a membership application early next year with a view to becoming a full member in 2011. Given that Iceland already implements EU single market legislation in order to have access to the common market, it should not take them long to adopt the rest of the EU acquis communautaire.
 
In a further sign of the government's determination to proceed quickly, Haarde has announced that his ruling Independence Party will hold its 2009 conference in January instead of next October as scheduled, purely to consider the question of EU membership.
 
Iceland has never before applied for EU membership, but the price of isolation has been brought home to them following the collapse of its banking sector and a massive run on its currency, the Króna. This has convinced many in Iceland that the country needs to join the euro. For this to happen, Iceland must be a member of the EU. Indeed, recent opinion polls show that 70% of Icelanders are in favour of EU membership.
 
All of which must have eurosceptics, and particularly Dan Hannan, (who frequently argue that Britain's relationship with the EU should be akin to that of Iceland), weeping into their drinks. It's been a bad few weeks for their arguments.