Voters in Iceland rejected the idea of their government restarting talks to join the European Union.
RUV reported Sunday that 118,040, or 52.8%, of Icelanders voted against the referendum, while 105,339 (47.2%.) voted in favor.
Earlier in the week, the race was close according to several polls, though opponents remained slightly ahead.
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The debate on whether Iceland should join the EU has been ongoing, focusing heavily on fishing, farming, the krona and how much control the country should keep over its own affairs. In 2009, Iceland applied to join the EU, and negotiations were later suspended in 2013 before being formally ended two years later.
Following the vote, Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir said at a press conference that Iceland will strengthen its current ties with the EU via the European Economic Area agreement, according to Reuters. The EEA agreement gives Iceland access to the EU single market.
“A big lesson for me and also for the government is that people are happy with the EEA agreement,” Frostadóttir said.
Questions about Iceland’s security relationships intensified because of President Donald Trump’s push to acquire its neighbor, Greenland — especially since Trump has mistaken the two countries for each other before.
Iceland, which sits near Greenland in the North Atlantic, doesn’t have its own armed forces. Instead, its security rests on NATO membership and a bilateral defense agreement with the United States dating back to 1951.
Those who were for renewed talks said closer EU ties would give Iceland more political and economic weight in Europe. Opponents were concerned joining would give Brussels too much influence over sectors important to Iceland, including fishing and farming. Fishing disputes also surfaced during Iceland’s earlier EU membership effort.
“The ‘No’ side succeeded because it tapped into the most fundamental driver of Icelandic national identity: the demand for absolute self-governance. This is inextricably linked to control over natural resources and fisheries, which forms the very heart of the Icelandic understanding of sovereignty,” Eiríkur Bergmann, professor of politics at Iceland’s Bifröst University, told CNBC.
Another issue on voters’ minds were finances amid Iceland’s struggle with inflation and interest rates. Vilborg Asa Gudjonsdottir, a researcher in international affairs at the University of Iceland, noted high salaries have offset this for a lot of people, though.
“I think the biggest reason for these results is that there is no economic urgency for Iceland to join the European Union and the public doesn’t seem to think that there is an urgency when it comes to security and defence either,” he said.
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