Iceland and the International Monetary Fund set at positive 2-3 percent by 2010. Additionally Iceland determined that it would not support the losses of its pension funds and social service programmes in order not to take up additional obligations. One of the primary objectives of the Icelandic government in seeking an IMF programme was to stabilize the ISK and to set a path for its gradual appreciation. To stabilize short term pressures on the ISK the Central Bank of Iceland raised interest rates to 18% and prepared to back the krona with its foreign reserves, specifically for which Iceland asked for an IMF programme . The
Iceland 2013, opinion polls showed that many Icelanders were now against joining the EU; following 2013 elections the two parties that formed the island's new government—the centrist Progressive Party and the right-wing Independence Party—announced they would hold a referendum on EU membership. Iceland has no standing army, but the Icelandic Coast Guard which also maintains the Iceland Air Defence System, and an Iceland Crisis Response Unit to support peacekeeping missions and perform paramilitary functions. The Iceland Defense Force (IDF) was a military command of the United States Armed Forces from 1951 to 2006. The IDF, created at the request of NATO,