EU Membership Bid Lacks Popular Support in Iceland, Analyst Says

The strategy employed by proponents of European Union membership negotiations in Iceland reveals a "certain weakness," according to political scientist Hjörtur J. Guðmundsson. He observes that those advocating for accession talks tend to heavily emphasize that the vote is "just about negotiations" while deliberately avoiding clear discussions about the implications of actual membership.

"The fact that these parties, who are most actively fighting for us to join the European Union [...] believe it is best for their case to tell people domestically: 'We are just going into negotiations, we are just going into negotiations,'" Hjörtur stated in a Dagmál podcast discussion. He interprets this approach as an implicit acknowledgment that "joining the European Union is not very popular in Iceland."

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We are just going into negotiations, we are just going into negotiations.

Hjörtur believes that if EU membership were genuinely more popular among voters, advocates would speak more directly about it. The current emphasis on "negotiations" signals a political vulnerability for the pro-accession side. The discussion also touched upon the adequacy of public information leading up to the referendum, Iceland's evolving relationship with the EU since 2009, and potential solutions for the fisheries sector.

The conversation, featuring Andrés Magnússon and Professor Eirík Bergmann, explored the political consequences of the referendum outcome for the government and whether the EU question is fundamentally political, economic, or existential for Icelanders. The nation is set to make its decision in the upcoming referendum.

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It just implies, of course, an acknowledgment that joining the European Union is not very popular in Iceland.