Icelanders are voting Saturday on whether to restart talks about joining the European Union REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- When U.S. President Donald Trump said he wanted a “piece of ice, cold and poorly located,” the people of Iceland had every reason to worry even if he was referring to Greenland. Their concern was not only that the object of Trump's desire was their nearest big neighbor, but that he repeatedly called it Iceland — four times.
That gaffe, as Trump continued to press for control of Greenland earlier this year, could help push the fiercely independent Iceland and its 400,000 people closer to Europe as voters decide Saturday whether to restart talks to join the European Union. There was a lot of fear here in Iceland because if he takes Greenland with force, we’re probably going to be next.” Iceland's decision is whether to continue going it alone successfully and maintain control of precious natural resources like its lucrative and well-managed fisheries, or to strengthen ties with Europe to better insulate the country from geopolitical instability and gain economic benefits such as the more stable euro currency and lower interest rates and inflation. Iceland, which is a member of NATO, already participates in the EU’s single market through the European Economic Area and is part of the Schengen free-travel zone.
For both sides of the debate, it's really a matter of sovereignty, said Hulda Thorisdottir, a political science professor at the University of Iceland. Opponents argue that the nation that won its independence from Denmark in 1944 enjoys all the benefits of European integration with no drawbacks. Why surrender that when they're doing so well? she said.
Being outside the EU makes Iceland vulnerable and that threatens its sovereignty, Thorisdottir said. Foreign and Defense Minister Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, who supports joining the EU, said when she asks people from smaller countries such as Ireland, Finland or Luxembourg, whether they feel they've lost their sovereignty, "they look at me like I’m a crazy woman” and say membership has made them stronger. Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir’s center-left coalition government was elected in 2024 on a platform that called for a vote on EU membership.
Icelanders did not vote on the decision to apply for EU membership in 2009, after the country’s debt-burdened banking sector collapsed during the 2008 global financial crisis. Accession talks were suspended in 2013 after a center-right government came to power, and they formally ended in 2015. The referendum is a first step to potentially joining the 27-nation bloc.
Voters will answer a simple yes-or-no question: Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union? If voters reject the proposal, the issue would be put to rest. A yes vote would lead to a yearslong negotiating process with the European Commission assessing 35 sets of criteria from financial systems to fisheries, transport networks, agricultural regulations, and freedoms such as speech and religion.
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