The future of Iceland’s bid to join the European Union will be called into question before its parliament after a majority of voters voted against restarting accession talks in this weekend’s referendum. A tally of votes on Sunday morning, reported by Iceland’s national broadcaster, RÚV, showed that Icelanders rejected the government’s bid to resume negotiations with the bloc, with 52.8 percent voting against and 47.2 percent in favor, amid an 82.5 percent turnout. We do not intend to make any firm decisions on that,” said Social Democratic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir Sunday at a press conference when asked what the results meant for the future of Iceland’s bid.
Frostadóttir reiterated, however, that the referendum outcome will be respected, that no further accession negotiations with the EU will be undertaken during the ruling government’s term, and that EU accessions were likely to be a theme of the next general elections. The prime minister did not say when the matter would be put to parliament. Iceland first started talks to join the EU in 2009, talks which collapsed in 2013.
The application, however, was never formally withdrawn. She also said that the result would not impact her role as prime minister because the referendum “was not a party political matter” — despite her support for restarting talks. Eiríkur Bergmann, a professor of politics at Bifröst University, called the vote a “heavy blow” for the government.
Iceland remains a close partner of the European Union,” a Commission spokesperson said.
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