Earlier in the month a gossip and hot chocolate session at Café París with my mum was interrupted by loudspeakers and crowds rumbling outside the Icelandic parliament.

It was an Anti-EU rally and as usual what I noticed people talked about more than anything was sovereignty and how a move to the EU would mean a loss of control of our independence.

It really got me thinking, is any country really sovereign? I don’t think the concept exists anymore.

Every country in the world has obligations that are out of their control. Countries have to make sacrifices they don’t want to make in order to live up to treaties, Kyoto, armament agreements, ceasefires and you scratch my back I scratch your back deals.

But nations can’t do whatever they want anymore, we’re all sharing the planet now, every country has international obligations and all countries need to answer to one another somehow.

Nobody can get away with doing whatever they want or get all the benefits without any consequences.

Not to mention, what do people define as sovereignty anyway? The scholar Zygmunt Bauman defines a sovereign nation as fulfilling the following three conditions.

1) An ability to defend the country’s borders with an army or other means. (Iceland doesn’t have an army... we don’t even add up to half a million people.)

2) A functioning economy. (Do I even have to say anything?)

3) A rich culture with deep historical roots that separates it from neighboring countries. (Now this we have in bundles.)

One out of three... that’s all we got? We’re in bad shape.

Swiftly our conversation turned to Iceland’s notion of independence. If Iceland is so afraid losing its sovereignty what the hell is it doing in the EEA?

The EEA gives Iceland access to the EU’s free market and the four freedoms (the free movement of goods, capital, people and services). It was signed in 1994 as a way to keep Iceland’s industry going without actually joining the EU.

But I think we’ve lost more independence in the EEA than we would have in the EU.

Firstly—and this isn’t so much an independence issue but more just plain annoying—we have to pay a lot of money annually in order to be in the EEA.

If we were in the EU, considering our difficulties, we would be receiving money to help us get back on our feet. Eventually we’d have to chip in too but we’d be in a better place to do so.

Secondly, because of the EEA contract that Iceland willingly signed, Iceland has adopted 70 percent of EU laws. Iceland has had absolutely no choice in adopting these laws.

How is that not handing over sovereignty? If Iceland was in the EU it would be part of creating these laws in order to protect domestic interests but now we have no say, have to shut up and take it.

But Iceland is sort of ruined if we don’t agree to the EU. The only thing holding up Iceland’s economy right now is the fact that we are able to do business with Europe without having to pay staggering tolls.

However, Iceland hasn’t been able to live up to its EEA obligations for over a year thanks to the economic crash and thusly the contract is sort of void.

The only reason the EU is letting our shortcomings slide and letting us trade freely with the rest of Europe is because Iceland is applying for the EU.

If Iceland doesn’t vote for membership we will be literally stranded. Could we get by without free movement of our goods?

Sure, but the cost of import would rise so much and we’re already struggling to afford products. That’s excluding the costs we’d be facing just to sell our products abroad (something essential for our economy to survive).

Some theorize that the fear Icelanders have of losing sovereignty will outweigh the clear economic benefits we’d face as EU members.

Where is the common sense, I ask? What good will this imaginary sovereignty do if we can’t do anything with it?

Oh great, Icelanders don’t have to share their fishing territories. But in order to sell fish they need to cut so heavily into their profit that they would struggle even harder than they do now just to get by.

A new Iceland is emerging from the rubble of the crash but it seems to me like some people are retreating into ignorance because it’s easier than to face the seriousness of our situation.

We need to embrace change and that’s never been a problem for Icelanders before: we embrace the new, different cultures, people, music, art… so why is this so hard for people now?

Nanna Árnadóttir – nannaa@hotmail.co.uk