This Government Will Not Resume Talks with the EU

Iceland’s government will not reopen membership negotiations with the European Union, Foreign Minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir said after meeting Alþingi’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

“The result is clear and the government will follow it,” Gunnarsdóttir told mbl.is. She said the referendum asked whether negotiations should begin again, and that the government respected the answer.

The committee discussed whether Iceland should formally withdraw its EU membership application, but the meeting produced no decision. Gunnarsdóttir said she had urged committee members to consider Iceland’s broader national interests in the current international environment. A follow-up meeting on the referendum result is planned when possible.

“

It is completely clear on our part that this government will take no further action toward entering negotiations with the European Union. That is what this referendum was about.

Withdrawing the application would make the process longer and more difficult for any future government that wanted to reopen accession talks, she said. The application has no expiry date, Gunnarsdóttir added. The question is whether it remains active and whether Iceland chooses to reactivate it.

For now, she said Iceland should maintain a strong relationship with the EU and ensure that the EEA Agreement continues to work. She also pointed to closer bilateral ties with the United States and Canada, a planned trade delegation to Minneapolis, an economic and political cooperation declaration signed with Japan, and a planned visit to China later this year. Iceland also wants to pursue further solutions within the EEA framework, following an exemption or solution on the emissions trading system that runs until 2030.

“

The result is clear and the government will follow it. The message in the question was not to restart negotiations. We respect that.