Following yesterday's decision by the Icelandic government to withdraw their application to join the EU – without holding the referendum promised during the elections and even without the consent of the parliament – the S&D Group calls on the government to honour its commitment. 
 
S&D Group president Gianni Pittella said:
 
"The resolution of Iceland's parliament, the Althingi, on 16 July 2009 mandating the Icelandic government to lodge an application to join the EU is still in force. Iceland's accession process made good progress during negotiations and we regret that the negotiations were not concluded as Iceland would have been a valuable member of the EU. It is, of course, up to the Icelandic people to decide whether they want to join the EU."
 
S&D Group vice-president Knut Fleckenstein said:
 
"We would like to recall that at the beginning of its mandate, in the summer of 2013, the Icelandic government made a clear statement that future decisions on whether to continue the application process should be decided in a referendum. We call on the government to honour that promise to the thousands of Icelandic people who took part in demonstrations last year to show that they want to have a say on the issue. Furthermore, the agreement of the Althingi should be sought, just as the original mandate to apply was sought, if the government persists in its intention to withdraw the application."