Icelanders voted against closer ties with the European Union
30 August 18:12
In Iceland, opponents of EU accession won the referendum. According to preliminary results of the vote on whether to begin negotiations on EU accession, 47.2% of voters supported the government’s proposal to resume negotiations, while 52.8% voted against it, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" citing DW.
0.7 percent of ballots were deemed invalid. More than 270,000 of the island’s approximately 400,000 residents participated in the vote.
Iceland applied for EU membership following the 2009 financial crisis. Negotiations were suspended in 2013 when a Euroskeptic government came to power in Reykjavík.
Why Icelanders Changed Their Minds
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland, the war in Ukraine, as well as rising inflation and high interest rates have forced many Icelanders to reconsider their position. But negative attitudes toward EU accession still prevail, particularly in the fishing industry, which is of immense importance to the country.
If the pro-EU camp had won, they had hoped to negotiate an accession agreement with Brussels. A new referendum on actual EU membership would then have been held.
Although Iceland is not a member of the EU, it is part of the Schengen Area as well as the European Economic Area—a common market established on January 1, 1994, which provides for the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital.
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