Secession Speakeasy #197: Iceland Votes No on Reopening EU Membership Talks

Released September 3, 2026.

Professor Wall (Grant M. Dahl) and the Secession Minstrel take up Iceland’s August 29 referendum, in which voters refused to reopen talks on joining the European Union by about 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent, against pundits who had predicted a narrow yes.

Wall argues that the yes side thought it held the Trump card, warning that Iceland would be next on Donald Trump’s list after Greenland, and that the vote turned on Brussels instead. As he put it, “They were more afraid of the reality of the EU than they were of the myth of Trump.” He points to the map of the count: both Reykjavik constituencies voted yes, while the other four voted no, three of them by about 60 percent or more, which he ties to fishing communities wary of the EU’s record on fisheries. The Minstrel credits voters for passing up the lower interest rates that membership offered to keep their fishing industry free of EU influence, and calls the result a principled stand.

Wall then argues that Iceland was the missing link in an EU push across the North Atlantic, with Mark Carney, in his view, steering Canada toward Brussels and a pro-EU coalition governing Greenland. He warns that the Icelandic government could still set the result aside or that foreign influence could stir up a color revolution in Reykjavik. Asked whether this is the EU’s version of the Soviet retreat from Afghanistan, the Minstrel declines to name a date but calls it “a big, beautiful black eye for the EU right now.”

Also in this episode

• Wall’s recollection that Iceland sent bankers to prison after the 2008 financial crisis, and Julian Assange’s time in the country
• Martin Armstrong’s forecast, as Wall relays it, that the EU could break up as early as 2029
• The Minstrel’s complaint about Idaho legislators who tell voters they know better, and Wall’s short list of members of Congress who answer to their constituents

Secession Speakeasy is an independent program produced by Grant M. Dahl. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of the Texian Partisan, Texas Nationalist Enterprises, or the Texas Nationalist Movement. Featuring an episode is not an endorsement.