Chuck Darwin on Nostr: Polling shows that the Icelandic public are keener on joining the European Union than ...

Polling shows that the Icelandic public are keener on joining the European Union than ever before,
-- with more Icelanders wanting to join the EU than stay out.

The turnaround happened with Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022,
but other domestic and international dynamics also come into play.

Things are moving fast,
as Iceland’s new Foreign Minister has just announced
“a referendum on the continuation of Iceland's European Union accession talks
and that this referendum be held no later than 2027”.

You might ask what is meant by a “continuation”.
-- well that’s a whole fascinating historical story which I’ll gladly set out below.

But basically, the last social democratic government started accession talks in 2009,
-- then a conservative-led government came into power and put talks on pause in 2013,
-- then tried to cancel it outright in 2015,
-- but without parliamentary approval.

That led to anger and an open question on whether the accession talks have indeed been cancelled
or are still formally open and ready to be picked up again!

In the meantime, the national polling has gone from being against joining the EU to being for joining the EU , so the time could be ripe for Iceland to finally join.

https://mikegalsworthy.substack.com/p/is-iceland-getting-ready-to-join?r=al8g0&triedRedirect=true