In the meantime, she said, the act of applying for European Union membership would create new confidence in Iceland abroad, helping to speed economic recovery. Commentators in Iceland have given high ratings to Ms. Sigurdardottir's performance in her 80 days in office, and in the election campaign, saying she has steadied the country's faltering self-confidence in the wake of the banking collapse and turbulent January street protests, the first political violence in Iceland since protests over the country's decision to join NATO in 1949.
NATO was founded in 1949.