Iceland leaves EU talks hanging as referendum count stays on a knife edge
?s vote on whether to restart European Union membership talks is headed for a razor-thin finish, with the count still too close to call on
Iceland’s vote on whether to restart European Union membership talks is headed for a razor-thin finish, with the count still too close to call on Saturday. The decision could shape the country’s future relationship with Europe, its currency path and the politics of one of the North Atlantic’s smallest states.
With 153,197 ballots counted out of about 270,000 eligible voters, public broadcaster RUV said 50.1% had rejected the government’s proposal and 49.9% backed it. Just 435 votes separated the two camps. Tight. Very tight.
A vote shaped by old arguments
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir’s centre-left government had promised a referendum by 2027, but brought it forward because of rising international tensions, including US President Donald Trump’s threats against Greenland. Even so, the campaign in Iceland — a country of almost 400,000 people — revolved far more around fishing than security.
That is hardly a surprise. Fishing rights were the biggest obstacle when Iceland first pursued EU membership talks, and they remain the sharpest point of contention now.
Iceland already sits inside the EU’s single market and the Schengen border-free zone. Joining the bloc fully would pull the country into the customs union and, eventually, the euro area. For supporters, that means a clearer place in Europe. For opponents, it raises the question of how much control Reykjavik would give up over waters that have long defined the island’s economy and politics.
A path interrupted before
Iceland applied to join the EU in 2009, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of its banking system. The move was already well advanced when a eurosceptic government took power in 2013 and froze the talks.
Now the old fault lines are back. The referendum was meant to answer whether Iceland should resume the process, but the first batch of results showed a country split almost down the middle.
Counting continued late on Saturday. For now, the vote hangs on a handful of ballots.
RUV said the margin was only 435 votes.
