Islande : un accord de remboursement qui dégage le chemin de l’adhésion[en] 

Iceland's parliament this summer backed the government's plan to begin accession talks with the European Union, an all but unthinkable prospect until the global financial crisis wrecked the island's economy last year (EurActiv 17/07/09). 

The crisis-struck Nordic country handed over its official application to join the EU on 17 July at ambassador level and will be ready to complete negotiations by the end of next year, officials told EurActiv (EurActiv 20/07/09). 

Responding to political pressure from Britain and the Netherlands, Reykjavik agreed to reimburse the two countries for compensating people holding so-called Icesave accounts at Landsbanki, one of three top Icelandic banks which failed last year under the weight of massive debts (EurActiv 18/08/08). 

The compensation was considered a key political factor in Iceland's emerging EU candidacy campaign. In fact, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said his country would block Iceland's EU accession if the country did not reimburse Dutch victims of the Landsbanki collapse. 

Some 300,000 people in Britain and a total of 128,000 people in the Netherlands had funds deposited in the Icesave accounts (EurActiv 24/07/09). 

Iceland passed a law in August to repay money lost in high-interest "Icesave" accounts, but Britain and the Netherlands balked at the terms, holding up aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders for the island's stricken economy. 

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir said the new deal would have a number of positive effects, including helping Iceland remove currency restrictions - put in place at the height of the crisis - and to ease interest rates. 

It should also get international financial aid flowing again. 

"I predict the IMF review will take place by the end of the month," Sigurdardottir said at a press conference. 

When the bill is passed, Iceland, Britain and the Netherlands will issue a statement about the deal that will also include British and Dutch backing for the IMF review, the government said. 

The deal has been accepted by Iceland's cabinet and the two parties in the coalition, and the government said the new bill would go before parliament on 19 October. 

Iceland's banks collapsed in late 2008 at the height of the credit crunch and its economy has imploded, leaving it dependent on a $10 billion aid package headed by the IMF. 

After initial payments, money has been held up by squabbles over the Icesave issue. 

Britain and the Netherlands objected to terms in the original law that meant the Icelandic government's repayment guarantee ran out in 2024. 

Under the new terms, should the money not be repaid by that date, the repayment period will be extended in five-year blocks. 

Britain and the Netherlands have agreed that Iceland can seek a court ruling as to whether its Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund has first claim on whatever is recovered from collapsed bank Landsbanki, whose depositors in Britain and the Netherlands had to be bailed out by the two states. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.)