Daily News Channel
Financial crisis-stricken Iceland formally applied for European Union membership on Friday, a day after lawmakers narrowly backed a government plan to take the island nation into the economic and political bloc. A copy of the application was submitted to the Swedish government, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, Iceland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement
European Union leaders were meeting Sunday for an emergency summit in Brussels amid growing fears that national protectionism will sabotage coordinated efforts to reverse the current economic decline. The summit, called by Czech Prime Minister and President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, will address the ways in which the individual member states implement their recovery plan and fight the impact of the financial crisis. The meeting follows French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s promise last week to bail out his country’s auto industry if it did not move jobs out of France.