Foreign ministers of the European Union transmitted to the European Commission the application of Iceland to join the EU on Monday the 27th of July. As Iceland is being part of the European Economic Area and has signed the Schengen agreements, the country is already fulfilling 22 out of 30 chapters of accession criteria according to the Commissioner for Enlargement, Oli Rehn. In order to avoid critics from candidate western Balkan countries, EU foreign ministers reminded that they were fully supportive of an EU perspective for the concerned countries. But France is opposed to any enlargement before a possible entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Full Le Monde's report here.