EU Referendum: 29th of August

There's a lot of discussion in Iceland currently around the forthcoming referendum in pursuing closer ties between the European Union and Iceland.

Image: Guide to Iceland

Source: https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/iceland-and-the-european-union

This is due to be held on the 29th of August.

After the 2024 parliamentary election, the new coalition government of the Social Democratic Alliance, Viðreisn (Liberal Reform Party) and the People's Party agreed to hold a referendum by 2027, although the People's Party does not support EU membership itself.

Although Iceland's previous accession negotiations were put on hold in 2013, the membership application submitted in 2009 was never formally withdrawn, so the referendum is about restarting those negotiations.

The debate comes at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty, with increasing security concerns and recent tensions in the Arctic region (Trump and Greenland for example).

Already a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Schengen Area (as UK visitors will know, with the delays with the EES currently), Iceland enjoys close economic and political ties with the EU already. One sticking point will be about fishing and the related negotiations over quotas and management - this was an issue for the UK during Brexit).