Iceland’s voters rejected restarting negotiations to join the European Union more than a decade after previous talks ended, the national broadcaster reported Sunday, in a referendum that pitted concerns about geopolitical stability against keeping national control of Iceland’s prized fisheries.
Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8% to 47.2%, RUV reported. The capital of Reykjavik was the only area in the island nation of 400,000 people where a majority supported the referendum.
The vote Saturday was held in the shadow of repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump’s to control nearby Greenland. Although Iceland is a NATO member, supporters said European solidarity would provide greater protection if Trump ever made similar threats toward the volcanic island.
Iceland’s left-leaning coalition government, elected in 2024, moved up the EU referendum it had planned for next year after Trump mistakenly named Iceland four times while speaking about his designs on Greenland.
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, who campaigned in support of the measure, said she hoped the result would not divide the nation.
“I don’t feel that there is bitterness,” she told RUV before the final results were tallied. “I know tempers run high for some people, but I have now spent time with a large group of people from all over the country and people are quite open to different outcomes.”
Voteres faced a simple yes-or-no question: Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?
Turnout was high with more than 82% of the eligible 270,000 voters casting ballots.
The count through the night had the nation on edge as the “Yes” campaign took an early lead before results swung in favor of the opposition. By dawn, a margin of only a few hundred votes separated the two camps before the gap grew as more ballots were tallied in areas of the country where opposition was greater.
“This isn’t the time to go. Maybe 10, 15, 20 years or more, like, we can take another look,” said Daniel Bjarkason, who voted against the measure. “But for now we’re too divided and that’s not a good look, because it should be 70-30 Yes if we’re going to do it.”
The influential fishing industry led opposition to the referendum over fears the bloc’s common fisheries policy would open its waters to Spanish, Dutch and other trawlers.
Descendants of Vikings who won their independence from Denmark in 1944 have lived off the sea for centuries and fishing is central to Iceland’s national identity. Iceland has a proud history of refusing to be pushed around by bigger and richer European nations, winning the so-called Cod Wars with Britain in the 1970s over the right to control its waters.
Opponents also rallied around the fact that Iceland already reaps benefits from being in the EU’s frictionless single market and the Schengen free-travel zone without the sovereignty compromises that come with full membership. They argued that Iceland’s voice would be muted in the large European Parliament and that it would be better off cutting its own trade deals, such as one with China.
Backers said EU membership would lower inflation and interest rates, and the euro would bring more stability than Iceland’s volatile króna. They said it was also in the nation’s interest to get closer to its European neighbors to tackle issues that don’t respect borders, such as climate change.
If the proposal had been approved, it would have been a preliminary step to revive the lengthy negotiating process with the EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, to discuss areas from the economy to human rights. Voters would have needed to approve any negotiated deal.
The result is sure to disappoint many in the European Union. Beyond being a relatively wealthy, stable and democratic country with vast fishing grounds, Iceland could have joined the bloc relatively quickly. Croatia was the last to join, in 2013.
Most of the other candidates waiting — including several countries in the Balkans, plus Moldova and conflict-torn Ukraine — must still undertake time-consuming reforms to bring their laws and standards into line with those of the EU.
Getting Iceland into Europe’s rich club, perhaps along with Montenegro and possibly Moldova, over the next two years could have helped to lay to rest the damage caused by the departure of Britain in 2020, even though London now appears willing to mend ties.
