KABUL (Pajhwok): A majority of Icelandic voters have rejected restarting negotiations on joining the European Union (EU), according to the official results of a national referendum.<\/p>\n
The results show that 52.8%<\/b> of voters opposed resuming EU accession talks, while 47.2%<\/b> voted in favor.<\/p>\n
The referendum was held on Saturday, and the official results were announced on Sunday by Iceland\u2019s state broadcaster RUV<\/b>.<\/p>\n
RUV reported that \u201cthe public rejected restarting negotiations on joining the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the report, the outcome is considered a political setback for the European Union, as Brussels had supported Iceland\u2019s membership and had shown willingness to compromise on disputes over fishing rights and several other issues.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the vote, the Icelandic government said the referendum could determine the future of the country\u2019s EU membership debate for years to come.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Kristr\u00fan Frostad\u00f3ttir<\/b> had said before the referendum that if voters rejected the proposal, EU membership would not return to her government\u2019s political agenda during its current term, which runs until 2028.<\/p>\n
Supporters argued that joining the EU could help reduce Iceland\u2019s high interest rates and strengthen the country\u2019s economic and political security.<\/p>\n
Opponents, however, said EU membership could threaten Iceland\u2019s national sovereignty and its fishing industry.<\/p>\n
According to the report, about 90%<\/b> of companies in Iceland\u2019s fishing sector opposed joining the European Union.<\/p>\n
Iceland is currently a member of the European Economic Area (EEA)<\/b> and the Schengen Area<\/b>, maintaining close economic ties and free movement arrangements with EU countries. The report said those relationships will remain unchanged regardless of the referendum\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n
Although the referendum is not legally binding, the Icelandic government has said it will respect the will of the people.<\/p>\n
Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009<\/b>, following the global financial crisis, but accession negotiations were suspended four years later after an anti-membership government came to power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KABUL (Pajhwok): A majority of Icelandic voters have rejected restarting negotiations on joining the European Union (EU), according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1177431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[303235,303234,1500,2000,299,5187,1699,48470,2880,771,303236,303237,303239,303238],"class_list":["post-1177430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-afghanistan-breaking-news","tag-afghanistan-news-today","tag-breaking-news","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-kabul","tag-taliban","tag-war","tag-whats-happening-in-afghanistan","tag-303237","tag-303239","tag-303238"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117185171157038378","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1177431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}