REYKJAVIK: Icelanders began voting on Saturday (Aug 29) in a referendum on whether to resume membership negotiations with the European Union, in a tight race that will be closely watched in Brussels.
The country of just under 400,000 people applied to join the EU in the wake of a 2009 financial crisis that devastated its economy.
The membership talks were suspended in 2013 when a eurosceptic government came to power.
The referendum result is expected to go down to the wire, with the latest Gallup poll crediting the “No” camp with 51.6 per cent of voter support and the “Yes” side with 48.4 per cent, a gap within the statistical margin of error.
“It’s pretty tight, but I’m always optimistic,” Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, a staunch europhile, told AFP ahead of the vote. “It’s not done until it’s done.”
Voting began at 9am and closes at 10pm. With no exit polls and given the tight race, the first reliable results are only expected late on Saturday at the earliest.
Around 273,000 voters are being asked to answer “Yes” or “No” to the question: “Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the EU?”
If the “Yes” side wins, an accession agreement would be negotiated with Brussels and then put to a new referendum on actual membership.
The issue of fisheries – a pillar of Iceland’s economy and over which Reykjavik wants to retain exclusive control – would have to be hammered out with Brussels, which this time around appears more willing to compromise.
“The fundamentals (of the debate) are very domestic, but there is a significant impact that has come with the second term of (US President) Donald Trump and this sort of geopolitical upheaval,” Bifrost University political scientist Eirikur Bergmann told AFP.
With Iceland’s economy now flourishing, some voters see no reason to discuss EU membership, since the country already has access to the single market as a member of the European Economic Area.
“It’s like if you are in a relationship with someone you don’t live with, and if you lose something you have by getting married, then why get married?” said Hjordis Vilhjalmsdottir, a 60-year-old radio presenter wearing glasses in the red, blue and white of Iceland’s flag.
“We don’t need Brussels to rule us. We can do it ourselves,” said Elias Theodorsson, a 65-year-old entrepreneur.
“We used to be one of the poorest countries in Europe only a hundred years ago. And now we are the most prominent country in Europe. We did it ourselves,” he said.
