Foreign Press on Iceland’s No Vote: “The EU as a Slow-Moving Machine Without Influence”

Iceland’s rejection of renewed European Union membership talks has prompted international newspapers to question what the EU can offer a country that already enjoys many of the bloc’s practical benefits.

Budapest daily Népszava noted that Iceland belongs to the European legal order and the Schengen zone. Through the European Economic Area, it also participates in the EU’s single market. The paper argued that Iceland enjoys most advantages of European integration without formally joining the union.

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Iceland is part of the European legal order and the Schengen zone. As a member of the European Economic Area, it is already in the EU single market.

That arrangement has allowed Iceland to retain control over areas many voters consider sensitive, including fishing, agricultural policy and its own currency policy. Népszava therefore warned against treating the referendum as a simple “euroskeptic uprising.” It said the EU must explain not only the benefits of membership, but also why a potential member should transfer sovereign powers it values for historical, economic or other reasons.

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It would therefore be a mistake to interpret the referendum result as a euroskeptic uprising.

Amsterdam newspaper de Volkskrant highlighted the competing economic arguments. Supporters of membership pointed to potential benefits for an economy facing high and rising living costs, as well as growing uncertainty over the geopolitical situation. Opponents argued that Iceland should continue protecting its economy from European competitors, an argument with particular weight for people whose incomes depend on the island’s major fishing companies.

The paper also reported that opponents dismissed the claim that EU membership would make Iceland safer, asking how the EU could provide protection when it cannot defend itself. For Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, de Volkskrant said, the vote showed that many Icelanders remain broadly satisfied with their current economic conditions and relationship with the EU. She said her government would work with Norway and Liechtenstein in the coming years to improve ties with Brussels.

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The EU must learn that listing the benefits of membership is not enough.