Voters in Iceland rejected a proposal to resume European Union accession talks, ending a decade-long debate over membership prospects.
| PULSE POINTS |
❓ WHAT HAPPENED: Icelanders voted 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent against resuming negotiations to join the European Union (EU), effectively shelving any immediate plans for EU membership. The referendum, held more than a decade after talks were initially suspended, reflects the public’s resistance to being submerged within the supranational bloc, despite much of the political class wanting to join it. 📍 WHEN & WHERE: The vote took place over the weekend in Iceland, with the capital of Reykjavik being the only area where a majority supported resuming EU talks. 💬 KEY QUOTE: “This isn’t the time to go. Maybe 10, 15, 20 years or more, like, we can take another look,” said Daniel Bjarkason, a voter against the measure. 🎯 IMPACT: The vote ends any immediate prospects of Iceland joining the EU, preserving its sovereignty. The EU demands that members surrender management of certain policy areas to central control, such as tariffs and fishing, with the latter being extremely important to Iceland. Icelanders. Prior to Brexit, EU management saw the British fishing industry contract significantly, as the bloc distributed quotas for a majority of Britain’s fisheries to foreign trawlers from countries such as France and Spain. 📺 DETAIL: The referendum was expedited by Iceland’s left-leaning government, after President Donald J. Trump was pushing for Greenland to be transferred from Danish to American control. Ironically, Greenland became the first territory to leave the European Economic Community, which preceded the EU in the 1980s, also to protect its fishing industry. Norway and Switzerland have also voted against EU membership in two separate referendums, with Switzerland also voting against the European Economic Area (EEA), conceived as a first step towards full EU membership. The two countries are among the wealthiest in Western Europe per capita. 📺 FLASHBACK: Iceland previously suspended EU accession talks in 2015 under a eurosceptic government. The country of just under 400,000 people has long prided itself on its independence, and it has often been held up as an example of how a small country can thrive without the EU by eurosceptics in countries like the United Kingdom. |
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