{"id":2652042,"date":"2026-08-31T04:34:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/iceland-votes-to-reject-proposal-to-begin-negotiations-to-rejoin-the-european-union\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T04:39:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T08:39:09","slug":"iceland-votes-to-reject-proposal-to-begin-negotiations-to-rejoin-the-european-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/iceland-votes-to-reject-proposal-to-begin-negotiations-to-rejoin-the-european-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Iceland votes to reject proposal to begin negotiations to rejoin the European Union"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ficeland-votes-to-reject-proposal-to-begin-negotiations-to-rejoin-the-european-union%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2652042&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Icelanders voted against a referendum to begin negotiations to join the European Union, with 52.8% voting no and 47.2% voting yes. Supporting the referendum would have restarted discussions but wouldn&#8217;t have guaranteed EU membership, as final accession would depend on further negotiations and another referendum.The vote reflects concerns over sovereignty,particularly regarding fisheries,and fears about inadequate depiction in a small nation of 400,000 people. Prime Minister Kristr\u00fan Frostad\u00f3ttir called the result a victory for democracy and stated her government would not pursue EU talks unless significant changes occur in the next two years. This decision marks a departure from IcelandS previous consideration of EU accession in 2013, influenced by economic hardships and sovereignty concerns. Frostad\u00f3ttir emphasized that her government would respect the vote and would only revisit the issue under extraordinary circumstances.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Icelanders reasserted their desire to remain out of the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/european-union\/\">European Union<\/a>, voting against a referendum that would have initiated negotiations to join the supranational union. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iceland\/\">Iceland<\/a>\u2019s National Electoral Commission revealed on Sunday that the measure lost by a 52.8% to 47.2% vote, the <em>Associated Press<\/em> reported. If Icelanders had voted in the affirmative and supported the referendum, there would still have been no guarantee that the country would have joined the European Union. It would have just meant that the country would restart negotiations, but its fate would have been contingent on those discussions and on another referendum to determine whether to join. <\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4705707\/grand-canyon-flash-flood-1-dead-and-several-missing\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Grand Canyon flash flood leaves 1 dead and several missing or unaccounted for, park service says<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4693630\/september-social-security-direct-payment-three-days\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>September Social Security direct payment worth $994 goes out in three days<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4692819\/first-round-september-social-security-payments-11-days\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>First round of September Social Security payments goes out in 11 days<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is a good day,\u201d said <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/icelandmonitor.mbl.is\/news\/news\/2026\/08\/29\/prime_minister_optimistic_i_have_faith_in_the_natio\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Prime Minister Kristr\u00fan Frostad\u00f3ttir<\/a> on Saturday before the vote. \u201cWe have now reached the point where this is in the hands of the nation. Either we enter these negotiations, seek a good agreement, and then see what happens, or we put the discussion about the European Union aside, at least for the time being.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The vote not to join the European Union comes 13 years after its last flirtation with doing so in 2013. After the economic hardships following the 2008 global financial crisis, Icelanders rejected a measure to join the EU, citing sovereignty concerns over the nation\u2019s preeminent export: its fisheries. Discussions to join the EU would lose momentum and eventually fizzle out.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/08\/29\/nx-s1-5948759\/iceland-european-union-referendum-vote\" rel=\"noopener\">reasons<\/a> believed to be at the core of the vote against joining the EU, in addition to the fisheries concern, was apprehension that the small Nordic island country, with a population of only 400,000, would not be adequately represented and that its concerns would be ignored due to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/poll-republican-glenn-youngkin-ahead-of-democrat-terry-mcauliffe-by-8-points-in-virginia-governors-race\/\" title=\"Poll: Republican Glenn Youngkin Ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe by 8 Points in Virginia Governor&#039;s Race\">small size<\/a>. There was also reported uneasiness about converting the country\u2019s currency from the Icelandic krona to the EU\u2019s euro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4704413\/iranians-hoard-alternative-currencies-physical-assests-worthless-rial\/\"><strong>IRANIANS HOARD CURRENCIES AND PHYSICAL ASSETS AS BLOCKADE CUTS OFF ALTERNATIVES TO WORTHLESS RIAL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frostad\u00f3ttir touted the election results as a victory for democracy and said she would respect the results, according to the <em>Associated Press<\/em>. She added that a monumental event would have to occur in the country for her government to revisit this issue. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThings happened in the past couple of years, though, that I could not have predicted,\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iceland-european-union-election-referendum-accession-fish-d29f8d4e140894fe22db17005e9c2a2e\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Frostad\u00f3ttir. \u201cBut this government will not go forward with it. And something big has to change in the next 24 months for this to be at the top of the agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Icelanders reject EU membership, vote against referendum<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2652043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ICELAND-e1788159350845.webp?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[39748,33505,20766],"class_list":["post-2652042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-eu","tag-iceland","tag-referendum"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ICELAND-e1788159350845.webp?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2652042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2652046,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652042\/revisions\/2652046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2652043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2652042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2652042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2652042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}