Iceland's Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir addresses a joint press conference on December 5, 2025 at the Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany. TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP
Iceland's government on Friday, March 6, proposed that a referendum be held on August 29 on resuming the country's EU membership talks after they were terminated in 2015. The North Atlantic island submitted an EU membership application in 2009, a year after the stunning collapse of its financial sector. Negotiations began in 2010 but were suspended three years later following parliamentary elections, and in 2015 the then-government announced the talks were terminated.
Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir told reporters she would present the proposal to parliament early next week. "We intend to ask the nation the following question: 'Should negotiations on Iceland's accession to the European Union continue?' And then the nation can answer with two options: 'Yes, negotiations should continue', or 'No, they should not continue,'" she said.
The three parties of the center-left coalition government had agreed in their government platform to hold a vote on the issue by the end of 2027. Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir said the time was right for a referendum. "Iceland is strong economically, but also in terms of national self-confidence, and thus able to make this decision," she said.
