Iceland Takes 15 Years to Decide on EU Membership — Liepāja Steelworker Doesn't Even Play One Period That Long

Icelandic politicians have announced they will hold a referendum on EU accession talks on August 29th, raising serious concerns about the world's decision-making speed. For comparison — a Liepāja steelworker can make strategic decisions about player substitutions in ten seconds, while Icelanders have been pondering the same question for 15 years.

Iceland's achievements are particularly impressive: out of 33 negotiation chapters with the EU, 27 have been opened and 11 completed. In Liepāja, such progress is called 'Riga pace' — lots of talking, little doing. Local hockey expert Jānis Kalniņš comments: 'Look, kid, if Metallurg fans spent 15 years deciding whether to support the team, there'd only be birds in the stadium.'

Particularly spicy is that the most complicated chapter concerns fisheries, which only brings smiles in Liepāja. 'Every other person here knows how to handle fish, but they up there can't agree for 15 years,' says Karosta fisherman Pēteris. The EU Commissioner tries to encourage Icelanders by talking about 'strategic partnership,' but in Liepāja they know this kind of diplomacy — it means waiting another ten years.

Public opinion polls show Icelanders are split in half, reminiscent of the situation in Liepāja cafés when deciding whether to drink coffee with sugar or without. Except there the decision takes two minutes, not half a century.