It is.... TIIIIIMEEEE
Also, the headline is misleading: It's a referendum about talking about joining the EU -- which, if positive, requires another referendum once the full negotiated bureaucracy package is finalized.
Boring.
Most people I talk to say "yes, let's talk about it; I'll probably vote 'no' later, but we could at least see what they're offering."
Iceland is a stable, prosperous and sophisticated democracy with a $39bn GDP. As a member of the European Economic Area — the single market uniting the EU together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — as well as the Schengen passport-free zone and the European Free Trade Association, it is already largely compliant with EU rules.
As a full member, Iceland would be a net contributor to the EU budget. It would (especially if joined someday by Norway) rebalance the past eastward expansion trend financially and geographically. Better yet, it would reaffirm the principle of merit-based accession: an important message for current candidates like some western Balkan countries and Ukraine that are struggling with reforms.
Not by a lot, lessbehonest... Ice = small.
The pro side say...
this voter consultation is just about getting a mandate to negotiate and that in its current half-in-half-out state, Iceland is a rule-taker but not a rulemaker.
Honestly, a small fish(!) in a large, bureaucratic pond, you wouldn't be much of a rulemaker inside EU either.
Opponents, including the centre-right Independence Party (in the opposition), and the centre-left People’s Party, a member of the governing coalition, fear that opening talks would create momentum towards membership. They are concerned about losing control over Iceland’s fishing waters and maintaining political autonomy.
for all its wealth, its defence spending falls far short of the Nato resilience goal of 1.5 per cent of GDP. It is dependent on imports for essentials, and on subsea cables for connectivity. Prices and interest rates are sky-high; its currency, the króna, is highly volatile.
What's so FUCKED about most of these formal convos is that they're all about geopolitics and Trump-Greenland bs and "oh no, not that horrid Putin -- and the threat of China!" instead of the things that actually matter: the horrifically uncompetitive state of Icelandic banks, the malfunctioning money -- that really shouldn't exist -- and the structurally insane inflation they run (stabilized at around 5% these days, with bouts of 10%+ about once a decade).
Also, it's basically just a hedge fund with a nation-state attached (and some aluminum smelting and tourism and fishery on the side) at this point -- the private/cooperative pension funds holding assets over 200% of GDP, a shocking proportion of which is domestic asset (airline, infrastructure, housing), and a government forcing employers and employees to contribute an insane amount to the funds: of (already high) wages, some 4%/11.5% contributions are mandatory, with a common option to extend to 8%/13.5% for workers-employers respectively.
(These funds go into tax-incentivized 401(k)-type arrangements that everyone uses to co-finance the mortgages for their overpriced housing stock; #hashtag financial-bubble circle-jerk.)
For all the nonsense that is the European Union (#1020250) and the ECB (#1534273), it'd be worth surrendering sovereignty/independence blah-blah just to get the banking and financial sector competitive, and get the stupidly exploitative inflation (and consequently interest) rate down. #1552045
...the author is an "international relations analyst" so why would she know anything about stuff that actually matters?
Hopeless.
I shall have fun on Saturday, nonetheless. Maybe join a Rigly blockparty to assert my energy and monetary independence (#1466211).
Yeah, Iceland’s own banking and inflation problems seem like the bigger issue here.
I appreciate the correct pronunciation.
Why does Iceland need the EU to fix high inflation for them? What makes it so politically unsolvable?
Their own incompetence and corruption/captured interests.
Same reason Steve Hankes endless championing of dollarisation for poor countries and monetary basket cases is a good cause.
Do they know that America would make them a better deal than the EU?
They don't. They think outrageously low of America, most of them having never been there and the sum total of their knowledge (well, "knowledge") of America consist of left-wing state propaganda.
US territories, like Puerto Rico and Guam, pay no federal taxes and are broadly exempt from federal regulations.
They just have to use the king's coin and tolerate the king's troops.
...and have free movement (ish?) and easy access to America, right? Probably vote, too, in some ways?
That should be an excellent deal...
Free movement, yes. They'd be citizens.
Voting in national elections is only for states and DC. The lack of "representation" is the tradeoff for not paying taxes.
Pretty good! Same-day delivery, too, and no tariffs on American imports. Amazing.
The EU is dead... I wouldn't recommend a country like Iceland join it... it would be its downfall, really.
agreed-ish. Short-term gain for long-term pain?
Then again, it's pretty dependant/has much and intricate economic relations with the EU bloc anyway so not sure it matters much trying to stay outside
I'd wait a decade, see what happens with the classic liberal void. If Italy fills it, fine, then there may be balance after all.
If that doesn't happen, then joining means you get to participate in doing what the Germans and French think you should do. So unless it's a bailout, I would stay far away. Keep the economic treaties and Schengen - those were the things that started the entire concept in the first place (i.e. Benelux.) The rest is imperialism from underperforming large states that mostly just want influence.
As net contributor, they may have more sway than their size would suggest.
I'm not sure why they'd want to be paying for being that little-bit-more-equal than all other equal states, and making everyone somewhat equally poor in the long run, but I'm all for their people having the right to drive their country over a cliff if they so choose.
Knowing EU tactics, though, I suspect they'll just keep voting until the Icelandic people get the result the EU wants.
probably true. Hungary, as a staunch illiberal net benefactor still managed to have some veto-style influence over things.
I really hope, for you, that you do NOT joun the EU... it is expensive, bureaucratic, semi-dictatorship... if you do happen to join... be orepared to be ruled for 75% bij EU. You will loose most of your autonomy.
Once in, out will be expensive... but I so hope we will have a Nexit (NL out of the EU...)
I think the real issue is Iceland’s own economy. The EU won’t magically fix the banking, currency, inflation and housing problems.