Iceland to vote on EU talks
Residents to decide whether to restart negotiations to join European Union
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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.
"We can't really trust the U.S. anymore," said Hildur Knutsdottir, a horror fiction writer who plans to vote in favor of EU membership. "Trump was not joking about Greenland. 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.
Sovereignty at the heart of the divide
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.
"The independence of Iceland is the most precious resource that we have," said Haraldur Olafsson, a physics professor who is chairman of Heimssyn, a Euroskeptic group that opposes EU membership. "The possibility of making your own law and deciding how things are done is essential."
EU proponents, however, see it through the lens of a rapidly changing world in which shifting alliances pose a security risk. Being outside the EU makes Iceland vulnerable and that threatens its sovereignty, Thorisdottir said.
Foreign and Defense Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, 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 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.