Iceland Says No. It Is Brussels That Must Change

Iceland has delivered another “no” to deeper European integration, and the opinion argues that Brussels should take the message seriously. With turnout reaching 82.5%, voters rejected reopening negotiations on European Union membership by 52.8% to 47.2%.

The result does not represent a rejection of Europe itself. Iceland already belongs to the European Economic Area and the Schengen Area, and it maintains close economic ties with the European Union. The distinction is political: voters refused to take the next step toward deeper integration.

The article places Iceland’s decision alongside the United Kingdom’s choice to leave the European Union and Switzerland’s refusal to become a member. Together, these examples are presented as evidence that European populations do not uniformly support expanding the project’s political reach.

Antoine Spillmann, co-founder of SwissRespect, writes that the responsibility now lies with Brussels. If the European project is to be preserved, he argues, its institutions should change rather than asking peoples to accept further integration.