Iceland began talks to join the European Union on Tuesday despite wariness about the costs involved in membership, including giving up its whaling traditions and paying off billions of euros of debts. The island of 320,000 people applied to join the bloc last year, when the economic crisis persuaded it to seek the safety net of EU membership after decades of reluctance, Reuters reported. Unlike EU hopefuls from the western Balkans, Iceland comes to the accession process well prepared -- it is already a member of the EU's borderless travel and economic cooperation zones. But popular enthusiasm for the 27-country bloc has faded in the past year because of a row with Britain and the Netherlands about debts linked to the collapse of Iceland's banking system following the global financial crsis. "We had political skirmishes with two old friends and the Icelandic people perceived the EU to take sides with them," Icelandic Foreign Minister Ossur Skarphedinsson told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday as the talks got under way. The British and Dutch governments want Reykjavik to reimburse them for the billions of euros they paid depositors whose funds were frozen in Icesave, an Icelandic bank that failed in 2008. But in a referendum in March this year, Icelanders rejected the payout plan and talks on repayment remain stalled. Skarphedinsson said meetings in recent weeks had produced no breakthrough and talks were expected to restart in September. "I wouldn't say the gap has closed ... I am optimistic, but I wouldn't bet my hat on it," he told Reuters in an interview.
