BRUSSELS, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A deal on foreign savers' deposits in Icelandic banks over the weekend paves the way for the European Union to provide aid to the crisis-stricken North Atlantic island, the European Commission said on Monday.
"We welcome the announcement by Iceland that it will apply EU rules on the protection of bank deposits," Commission spokeswoman Amelia Torres said.
"This should indeed open the way for an agreement now for the financial aid requested for the country," she said. (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)