Iceland will celebrate a referendum next August 29 on the reopening of negotiationsIceland’s accession to the European Union (EU), frozen since 2015, following the proposal made by the Icelandic Government two months ago.
The Icelandic Parliament approved this motion with the support of 34 deputies, with 8 votes against and 14 abstentions, according to the Icelandic public radio television RÚV.
The Government headed by the social democrat Kristrún Frostadóttir It controls 36 of the 63 seats in Parliament, so the result was expected.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen (R), shakes hands with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Kristrun Frostadottir (L), during their meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on January 14, 2026. (Belgium, Iceland, Brussels) EFE/EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS / OLIVIER MATTHYS / EFE
In the event that the “yes” vote wins in the referendum and an agreement is subsequently reached with Brussels, A new consultation would have to be held on this eventual pact.
Kristrún Frostadóttir had announced at the end of February that preparations would soon begin to hold the referendum, which according to the government coalition agreement should be called no later than 2027.
The Social Democratic Alliance, which had not governed for a decade, is the main defender of EU membership and once promoted the previous negotiations, apart from the fact that in recent years, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Brussels’ supporters in Iceland have increased in the polls.
Fishing and agriculture, the main obstacles
The outbreak of the economic crisis in 2008 increased the favorable atmosphere for the EU in a country traditionally opposed to Brussels, suspicious of its independence and its main resource, fishing.
In that climate, the then red-green government of the social democrats Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir approved in July 2009 to apply for admission and open negotiations, despite the reluctance of the coalition’s junior partner.
Euroscepticism
The conflict with several EU countries over compensation to foreign savers for the bankruptcy of the Icesave bank, the disputes with Brussels over mackerel quotas, the euro crisis and the internal fights over the issue in the government coalition reborn the euroscepticism in Iceland.
The red-green Government temporarily suspended the negotiations in 2013 when 27 of the 33 chapters of the talks had been opened – but not fishing and agriculture, the main ones – and agreements had been closed in eleven.
The new right-wing Executive that emerged from the 2013 elections finally decided, supported by the powerful fishing industry and the agricultural sector, to suspend them definitively in 2015.
