Iceland Rejects Reopening EU Membership Talks in National Referendum

Iceland’s voters rejected a proposal to reopen negotiations on joining the European Union in a national referendum held Saturday. The No side won 52.84 percent to 47.16 percent, with turnout reaching 82.52 percent.

The referendum did not ask Icelanders whether to join the European Union, but whether their government should restart the accession talks it suspended in 2013. The vote was advisory rather than binding, though the governing coalition said it would treat the outcome as a mandate.

The result was a defeat for Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir’s center-left government, which had campaigned to reopen the talks. Frostadottir said the government would respect the No vote.

Opposition centered on control of Iceland’s fishing waters. Fisheries account for more than six percent of the country’s economy, and opponents argued that membership would place management of Icelandic waters under the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy. Iceland first applied to join the bloc in 2009, during the financial crisis, and shelved the bid in 2013 over the same dispute.

Iceland is not a member of the European Union but takes part in the European single market through the European Economic Area. Under that arrangement it has adopted a large share of the bloc’s rules without a vote in writing them. Supporters of membership argued that joining would give Iceland a voice over rules it already follows. Opponents countered that the current arrangement preserves Icelandic control over the country’s resources.

After the vote, Frostadottir’s government signaled it would look to new security and trade partnerships outside the European Union. The result leaves Iceland’s relationship with the bloc unchanged for the foreseeable future.