Iceland Rejects EU Talks

Icelandic voters rejected restarting EU accession negotiations, with 52.8% voting no and 47.2% voting yes, a margin of about 12,600 ballots among more than 225,000 votes cast. The referendum asked whether Iceland should resume talks with the European Union 13 years after negotiations were suspended. The result defeats Social Democrat Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir’s proposal to reopen accession talks more than a year earlier than originally planned. Opposition centered on preserving national control over fisheries, while supporters cited European integration and geopolitical security concerns.