Iceland rejects continuation of EU accession talks — YLE News
A majority of referendum participants in Iceland rejected the continuation of negotiations on the country’s accession to the European Union. Some 52.8% voted against continuing the talks, while 47.2% supported the idea. Turnout exceeded 80%.
Finland’s Ambassador to Iceland, Ville Cantell, told YLE News that the voting result was unlikely to cause a lasting social divide. At the same time, he did not rule out further discussion of the campaign ahead of the referendum.
Claims during the campaign
According to Cantell, supporters of continuing the negotiations believed that their opponents were spreading false claims. He also suggested that Icelandic media could investigate possible ties between opponents of the talks and the MAGA movement, which supports US President Donald Trump, as well as the movements behind Brexit.
The ambassador noted that a conspiracy theory had spread among opponents of the negotiations, claiming that Iceland’s accession to the EU had already been decided and that a vote to continue the talks would automatically mean membership in the Union. According to him, this was not true, as the referendum concerned the continuation of the negotiation process.
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Fisheries and relations with the EU
Timo Miettinen, a researcher at the University of Helsinki’s Centre for European Studies, believes that the result does not constitute an unequivocal rejection of the EU by Iceland. The country is already closely linked to the European Union through the European Economic Area and the Schengen Agreement.
In Miettinen’s assessment, geopolitical uncertainty and competition among major powers have not removed Icelanders’ long-standing doubts about membership. These primarily concern fisheries, one of the key sectors of Iceland’s economy. Icelanders seek to retain as much independence as possible in regulating this area.
Cantell believes that the door to the EU is not permanently closed for Iceland: a future crisis could make the question of membership relevant again. He also stressed that Finland and the EU did not seek to interfere in the Icelandic referendum.
