Icelanders Vote on Whether to Resume EU Membership Talks

AP

An Icelandic flag waves in the wind at Reykjavik Harbor in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Icelanders are due to vote on Saturday on whether to reopen membership negotiations with the European Union, with public opinion reportedly divided after months of debate over the cost of living, national security and control of the country’s fishing waters.

Supporters of reopening the talks argue that EU membership could help ease high interest rates and provide greater security amid growing global uncertainty, including the war in Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s remarks regarding Greenland, another Arctic island.

Opponents, however, say joining the EU could undermine Iceland’s sovereignty and threaten its control over its fishing waters.

A “yes” vote would only pave the way for negotiations with Brussels. Icelanders would still have to vote in a second referendum, likely several years later, on whether the country should formally join the EU.

"I ⁠think Iceland is better off outside of the EU," former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir told journalists after speaking at a "no" campaign event in Reykjavik on Thursday.

"For a country like ours with our small economy, it's very important to maintain our sovereignty and not to transfer more power than we would have to do to the EU."

Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir, who has been backing 'yes', told Reuters last week that Saturday's vote comes down to a simple question: can Iceland still afford to stand apart in a world where old certainties are crumbling?

"The international order that underpinned our security and prosperity for decades is under serious pressure," she said. "In times like these, small nations need to think carefully about where they stand and who stands ‌with them."

Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009, at the height of a financial crisis that hit the country’s small and highly exposed economy particularly hard. Membership talks were suspended in 2013 after a Eurosceptic government put the process on hold.

Renewed geopolitical tensions have since given fresh impetus to an issue that Icelanders have debated intermittently for decades.

Within Iceland, the debate has focused largely on interest rates, fishing rights and the cost of living rather than security concerns.

The country has struggled with persistently high inflation and interest rates, making mortgages increasingly costly. Supporters of a “yes” vote argue that EU membership, and potentially adopting the euro, could provide some economic relief.

Iceland’s central bank currently has an interest rate of 8.00%, compared with 2.25% at the European Central Bank.

Opposition leader Gudrun Hafsteinsdottir, who has led the "no" campaign, has argued the economic case is overstated.

"These are not problems that Brussels will solve for us. These are problems that Icelandic politicians must solve," she said.

Under EU rules, fishing quotas are determined partly on the basis of historical fishing patterns. Some Icelandic officials argue that this would allow the country to retain control over its fishing waters, as no other EU member state has fished in Icelandic waters for decades.



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