Iceland refuses to restart EU negotiations after close referendum

Icelanders have voted to reject restarting negotiations to join the European Union, saying issues such as domestic regulations on fishing appear to take precedence over geopolitical security concerns.

Broadcaster RUV reported that 52.8% of voters rejected the government’s move to resume EU accession negotiations, while 47.2% voted in favor.

There were questions about whether Iceland, a Nordic country with a population of about 400,000, should restart accession negotiations with the EU.

If a majority votes “yes”, the negotiated agreement would be put to a second referendum on whether Icelanders should accept or reject it.

The debate has taken on deeper meaning after US President Donald Trump brandished a saber in the Arctic Circle.

But in the end, concerns about the potential loss of control over fishing and the erosion of national identity outweighed concerns about how Iceland would be affected by geopolitical conflicts.

“The ‘No’ side was successful because it capitalized on the most fundamental driver of Iceland’s national identity: the demand for absolute autonomy. This is closely tied to the control of natural resources and fisheries, which is at the very heart of Iceland’s understanding of sovereignty,” said Eirikur Bergman, a political science professor at Iceland’s Bifrost University.

Although seafood remains a major export industry, the share of fishing in Iceland’s overall economy has been declining for decades.

According to Statistics Iceland, seafood and farmed fish accounted for nearly 47% of the country’s exports between August 2025 and July 2026.

But production has halved from a peak of 2.2 million tonnes in 1997 to 1.1 million tonnes in 2024, according to World Bank data. Agriculture, forestry and fishing contributed 9.1% of Iceland’s gross domestic product in 1995, but only 3.7% in 2025 due to the increased importance of manufacturing and services.

U.S. presidents have long insisted on control of neighboring Greenland, citing national security reasons. Notably, President Trump repeatedly appeared to confuse Greenland and Iceland in a special speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, earlier this year.

Iceland, a founding member of NATO, is the only ally without its own military. The country also straddles the so-called GIUK Gap, a maritime chokepoint between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom that connects the North Pole and the Atlantic Ocean.

The country applied to join the EU in 2009 after the global financial crisis. The eurosceptic government suspended negotiations in 2013, and the accession process officially ended in 2015.

Through accession to the European Economic Area, volcanic islands are already deeply integrated into the European framework, which gives them access to the EU’s single market without requiring full membership.

It is also a member of the Schengen Area, which allows passport-free travel to and from other European countries.

Iceland’s Foreign Minister Torgeldur Gunnarsdóttir said earlier this year that deeper dialogue and cooperation with the EU would be a key element in strengthening the country’s interests.

“It is clear that the international system in which we have lived since the end of World War II is in disarray,” Gunnarsdóttir said in an article for Icelandic newspaper Vigir, according to Google Translate.

“Perhaps what is most striking about this referendum is that, despite profound geopolitical upheavals all around us, including the rapid shift in security paradigms in the North Atlantic, these global realities were not properly reflected in the public debate,” Bifrost University’s Bergman said.

“The ‘Yes’ side lost because they ran a very technical and frankly passionless campaign.”

—CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this article.