ICELAND TAIEX assistance needs are identified in co-operation with the National IPA Coordinator in Iceland (NIPAC) who ensures that the applications correspond to the actual needs of the central administration, and that the assistance effectively supports the process of Iceland’s preparations for accession into the European Union. In 2010, the first year TAIEX assistance was made available to Iceland, together with Icelandic authorities TAIEX organised seven scoping missions to assess the needs for technical assistance in the sectors identified as priorities in the Commission’s Opinion on Iceland’s application for EU membership. The assessments resulted in action plans for TAIEX assistance over a medium-term perspective. The first TAIEX applications from Iceland were received in spring 2010. Since then, short-term technical
assistance activities have been organised in fields including regional policy, judiciary and fundamental rights, and statistics, as well as on horizontal issues. The number of Icelandic applications grew rapidly in the second half of 2010. EVENTS PER SECTOR Agriculture - 9 ( 36% )
Other - 7 (28% )
Regional policy - 5 (20% ) Infrastructure - 2 ( 8% ) Internal market - 2 ( 8% ) Total : 25
Iceland submitted its application for European Union membership to the Council in July 2009. On 17 June 2010, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Iceland and the negotiations were formally opened in Brussels on 27 July 2010 during the first intergovernmental conference on the accession of Iceland to the European Union. TAIEX Activity Report 2010
31