REYKJAVIK – A referendum asking voters in Iceland to approve the restart of negotiations with the European Union to join the economic bloc was too close to call early Sunday morning.
As the counting continued, the vote on whether to engage in talks was nearly even, according to unofficial tallies reported by RÚV, the national public broadcasting company of Iceland. At 3:05 a.m. local time, the “No” vote led 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent.
Months of roiling debate over Saturday’s referendum gripped the country, with the public nearly evenly split over whether to restart talks. The main issues for those in opposition are concerns over control of rich fisheries off the coast of the small island nation, while supporters point to adopting the euro for more currency stability and pulling closer to mainland Europe at a time when President Donald Trump slaps tariffs on allies and threatens to take over nearby Greenland.
If approved, the referendum would resume talks with the EU to negotiate a potential deal, which would require a second referendum after the negotiations were completed – and approval by all members of the bloc.
Voter turnout was high across the country of 400,000 people, with voting rates stretching from about 60 percent in the capital of Reykjavík to more than 80 percent in more rural districts, according to government data.
A Gallup poll conducted Friday found that 51.6 percent of respondents said no to restarting talks, while 48.4 percent said yes.
Iceland initially applied for EU membership in 2009 while reeling from the collapse of its major banks, but talks reached a standstill in 2013 over fisheries and other issues.
Iceland is already closely tied to mainland Europe as one of the 12 founding members of NATO, despite not having a standing military. The country regularly hosts allied aircraft at its Keflavík air base, where NATO countries share rotations flying fighter and surveillance planes to search for Russian submarines and warships.
Iceland began allowing American nuclear-powered submarines into its territorial waters in 2023, and in 2025 one of those submarines paid a port visit to Reykjavik for the first time under the stipulation that it was not carrying nuclear weapons.
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, who supports opening negotiations and a second referendum, has made the case that joining the union would insulate Iceland’s economy from bilateral tariffs that would be difficult for the small nation to deal with alone.
The specter of an unpredictable America under the Trump administration led the prime minister to move up the referendum from the promised 2027 date to Saturday.
“It is no secret that the situation has changed a great deal over the past one and a half years,” Frostadóttir said in a televised debate just 48 hours before the vote. “We are seeing the United States use tariffs as instruments of trade coercion and as a weapon.”
Frostadóttir and other supporters have also pointed to how deeply ingrained Iceland already is with European markets, with little to no say over how trade and economic decisions are made in Brussels.
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