Bitter pill for EU as Iceland shuts door on entry talks

• Iceland voted 52.8% against restarting EU membership talks, disappointing Brussels and halting hopes of a new EU success story.
• EU leaders respect Iceland's decision but acknowledge it signals waning attraction and trust in the EU.
• Eurosceptics celebrated the vote, while EU officials stressed ongoing cooperation on security and Arctic issues despite the setback.

BRUSSELS - The EU put a brave face on Aug 30 on Iceland’s vote against restarting membership talks, but the outcome was a bitter pill to swallow – robbing Brussels of a hoped-for success story while delighting its eurosceptic critics.

European Council chief Antonio Costa told Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir after the referendum results came in that the 27-nation bloc “fully respects the democratic choice” of Iceland’s voters.

The North Atlantic island is already closely linked to the EU as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the free-movement Schengen zone, and both leaders vowed to “continue to strengthen the relationship”.

But there was no disguising the dismay in wider Brussels circles.

“The message is clear: the EU doesn’t inspire people any more,” summed up the Green EU lawmaker Saskia Bricmont.

Fellow MEP Sandro Gozi, a centrist, called it “a warning Europe should take seriously.”

He said the bloc’s “power of attraction” should not “be taken for granted”, and that it must “keep earning trust” by cutting bureaucracy and boosting accountability.

The EU last expanded in 2013 by admitting Croatia, and while the bloc has revived talk of enlargement as a strategic priority since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there has been little to celebrate since then.

Recent years have seen halting progress among candidates in the western Balkans, with Montenegro and Albania closest in line to join, and the opening of a vast and thorny accession process with Ukraine.

Brussels took care not to be seen as meddling in Iceland’s weekend vote – but it made little secret of its eagerness to welcome the wealthy, strategically-located island to the EU fold.

For many European capitals Iceland looked like a model candidate, and Brussels had indicated it could give ground on sensitive issues such as fishing rights, to smooth its path into the bloc.

That appears to have fallen on deaf ears among Iceland’s nearly 400,000 people, who voted by 52.8 per cent to 47.2 percent not to resume entry talks suspended 13 years ago, burying the question for the foreseeable future.

Eurosceptic glee

Eurosceptics seized gleefully on the result, with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen saying it showed the appeal of a Europe of “free, sovereign nations” – over a path of closer integration.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage congratulated Icelanders on “voting to keep their independence”.

At the hard-right end of the European Parliament, the ECR group said the fact Iceland voted ‘No’ in spite of an “uncertain” international security environment “should give Brussels pause”.

The group’s co-chairman Nicola Procaccini said Brussels should ask itself hard questions about why “a prosperous, democratic and outward-looking European country” chose not to renew entry talks.

Geopolitics loomed large over the referendum, with US President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland resonating in neighbouring Iceland, a NATO-dependent country.

But the debate ultimately focused on bread-and-butter issues such as fishing and Iceland’s volatile currency.

Iceland’s vote marks a setback for the EU’s broader push to bolster its presence in the strategic Arctic region – which EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will underscore by visiting Greenland in September.

Lawmaker Kathleen Van Brempt of the Socialists and Democrats called Arctic cooperation with Iceland on security matters “more important than ever” – vowing that work would “continue, openly and respectfully.”

Echoing that message, her fellow socialist Andreas Schieder underscored that Iceland “is and remains part of the European family.”

“Now it is a matter of jointly withstanding the geopolitical pressure,” he said. AFP