Iceland’s finance minister has stepped up the campaign to bring the country into the European Union, arguing that Brussels would strengthen the island’s economy and security ahead of a referendum on reopening accession talks.
Dadi Mar Kristofersson, whose party recommends a ‘yes’ vote, asserted that EU membership would boost Iceland’s economy and give it the muscle to resist its larger trade partners and withstand Arctic rivalries of the sort inflamed by U.S. president Donald Trump’s recent claims on Greenland. According to Kristofersson,
both our economic interests and our security interests are well served by membership.
The referendum—approved by Iceland’s parliament (Alþingi)—would restart talks between Iceland and the EU, stalled since 2013. Any movement towards membership would require a second referendum. Iceland is already in NATO and the European Economic Area (but not the Common Fisheries Policy), meaning in some respects it could be considered a ‘good fit’ by Brussels.
The prospect of EU membership has also reignited debate over the future of the Icelandic króna, raising the possibility that the country could eventually abandon its independent currency in favour of closer integration with the euro. Iceland could retain a floating króna, peg it to the euro, or adopt the single currency outright.
Kristofersson’s thinking is also shaped by rising geopolitical tensions in the Arctic. Iceland—population 400,000—is positioned between Greenland and Europe, occupying greater strategic importance:
We are the unsinkable aircraft carrier and we will remain the unsinkable aircraft carrier.
At present, the finance minister sounds more bullish than the foreign minister on Iceland’s EU future. However, as critics of Brussels will recall, EU integration elsewhere has typically proceeded using incremental steps that are difficult to reverse.
