REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelanders voted to stay out of the European Union, referendum results showed Sunday, as they rejected a government push to reopen membership talks and sided with those who said Iceland’s fishing waters were too important to risk.
The Arctic island of 400,000 people has debated whether to join the E.U. for well over a decade and had initially been narrowly expected to back holding membership talks, but opinion polls this month showed views had changed.
In Saturday’s referendum, 52.8% of ballots cast were against the government’s proposal to hold negotiations with Brussels, 47.2% were in favor, and 82.5% of eligible voters took part, public broadcaster RUV and other Icelandic media reported.
The government has framed membership as a shield against trade wars and Arctic rivalry and presented the referendum as a “now or never” moment, with Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir warning that a “no” would put the membership question aside.
In Brussels, some officials had voiced hopes a vote to join from Iceland could ease skepticism toward E.U. enlargement and strategically strengthen the bloc when Arctic security is in focus.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to do a deal to acquire another Arctic island, Greenland.
More broadly, geopolitical turmoil, including war in the Middle East, has stoked inflation and increased the vulnerability of smaller economies.
Iceland first applied to join the E.U. in 2009 when a financial crisis hit the country’s small, exposed economy. A Euroskeptic government ended talks in 2013.
Debates inside Iceland have focused on interest rates, fishing rights and the cost of living rather than on security.
Iceland has grappled with high inflation and interest rates that have made mortgages expensive. Supporters of a “yes” vote had said E.U. membership, and possibly adopting the euro, could bring relief. Iceland’s central bank interest rate is 8%, compared with 2.25% at the European Central Bank.
“It would not solve Iceland’s structural faults, but it could become a catalyst to a more healthy economy,” said chief economist Vilhjálmur Hilmarsson at Viska, one of Iceland’s largest labor unions.
Opposition leader Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, who has led the “no” campaign, said the economic case is overstated. “These are not problems that Brussels will solve for us. These are problems that Icelandic politicians must solve,” she said.
Voter Ragnhildur Skarphedinsdottir, 70, said Iceland was managing well on its own and that she was voting “no.”
“By staying independent as we are, we look brightly to the future,” she said before casting her ballot in Reykjavik.
