{"id":754513,"date":"2026-08-30T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754513\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:34:16","slug":"iceland-rejects-eu-accession-talks-in-referendum-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/754513\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland rejects EU accession talks in referendum | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u2018No\u2019 camp garnered 52.8 percent of the vote while the \u2018Yes\u2019 camp secured 47.2 percent, public broadcaster RUV reports.<\/p>\n

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Published On 30 Aug 202630 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

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Updated: an hour agoUpdated: an hour ago<\/p>\n

\u2060Icelanders have rejected the government\u2019s \u2060\u2060proposal to resume accession talks with the European Union, reported the \u200c\u200cpublic broadcaster RUV.<\/p>\n

In a vote held on Saturday, 52.8 percent of Icelanders voted \u2018No\u2019, while 47.2 percent voted \u2018Yes\u2019, according to official results published by RUV on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

\u201cThe nation rejects accession negotiations with the EU,\u201d RUV reported.<\/p>\n

The result deals a blow to Brussels, which had been keen to welcome a new wealthy member and had expressed a willingness to compromise with Reykjav\u00edk on fisheries and other thorny issues to facilitate accession.<\/p>\n

Brussels had also hoped to be able to present Icelandic membership as an example of positive enlargement that could also make it more palatable for member states to agree to take in less wealthy countries such as Montenegro.<\/p>\n

The government had framed its membership plan as a \u201cnow or never\u201d moment, and Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir told voters in August that voting \u2018No\u2019 would put all EU speculation aside.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes\u2019 campaigners said joining the bloc could ease high interest rates and offer more security in a world unsettled by war in Ukraine and United States President Donald Trump\u2019s rhetoric \u2060\u2060about annexing another Arctic island, neighbouring Greenland.<\/p>\n

\u2018No\u2019 campaigners said EU \u2060\u2060membership would threaten Iceland\u2019s sovereignty and its fishing industry.<\/p>\n

It has been fiercely opposed to joining the bloc \u2013 90 percent of companies in the industry were against the idea \u2013 and the EU had tried to woo them with a conciliatory approach ahead of the vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cIceland\u2019s unique specificities on fisheries and agriculture are well known. They would have to be carefully considered,\u201d EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident that, together with EU member states, we would find creative solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeopleA rally opposing the resumption of EU accession talks in Reykjavik, August 27, 2026 [Marco Di Marco\/AP]<\/p>\n

Frostadottir vowed that if Iceland rejected the resumption of entry talks, the EU membership issue would not be put back on the political agenda during her mandate, which ends in 2028.<\/p>\n

The government also said that in the event of a \u2018No\u2019 vote, it would leave to parliament the question of whether or not to formally withdraw its EU membership application.<\/p>\n

The small island in the North Atlantic is already closely linked to the EU as a member of the European Economic Area and the free-movement Schengen zone \u2013 ties which will remain unchanged.<\/p>\n

While the referendum result is technically non-binding, the government has vowed to respect it.<\/p>\n

The government is due to hold a lunchtime media conference (13:00 GMT) on Sunday to present its plans.<\/p>\n

Iceland first applied to join the EU in 2009 when a financial crisis hit the country\u2019s economy. A Eurosceptic government ended talks four years later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u2018No\u2019 camp garnered 52.8 percent of the vote while the \u2018Yes\u2019 camp secured 47.2 percent, public broadcaster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[591,49,791,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-754513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-europe","tag-headlines","tag-iceland","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}