Iceland, the temptation of the European Union?

Will Iceland re-engage in its accession process to the European Union (EU)? Answer on August 29, the date on which citizens will vote by referendum on the resumption of negotiations. The country submitted its candidacy in 2009, in a context of financial crisis, before requesting its suspension in 2013.

“Some say that Donald Trump’s positions on Greenland, close to Iceland, have pushed the country to reconsider its alliances. In reality, it was also a promise of the coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party in December 2024,” underlines Egill Bjarnason, Icelandic journalist and author of History of Iceland (Ed. Otherwise). Behind a seemingly innocuous vote, a balancing act is playing out for Iceland and its 400,000 inhabitants: the desire to tie into Europe, with which many identify, without losing its soul and its maritime sovereignty.

Industrialization

Because its greatest wealth lies in its fish-rich waters. With nearly 1.4 million tonnes of fish caught in 2023 (Statistics Iceland), Iceland is ahead of Spain, the EU’s leading fisherman. As during the first negotiations, the fear of quotas in the common fisheries policy and the sharing of territorial waters remains a sticking point.

“We fought for our right to fish,” recalls Egill Bjarnason. For a long time, Icelanders saw schooners from France, Germany and the United Kingdom stocking up near their shores. It was only in 1922 that the island established its fishing sovereignty with a law regulating use of its territorial waters. Then, between 1958 and 1976, the three cod wars pitted it against the United Kingdom. At the heart of the conflict, the extension of its exclusive economic zone to 12 nautical miles, then to 200 miles. Iceland emerges victorious, sparking a powerful sense of national pride.

Since the 1990s, it has diminished, with the industrialization of fishing. “There was a time when the second son in a family was destined to work at sea,” says Egill Bjarnason. Although everyone still knows a fisherman today, this link to the sea has faded among those under 50. »

From there to modify the vote of August 29? The latest poll from the Gallup Institute, published in August, leaves doubt: 46% of the population would vote for, 46% against and 8% have not decided.