Icelandic voters go to the polls on Saturday, August 29, 2026, to decide whether the country should resume accession negotiations with the European Union. Polls point to a narrow lead for the yes side.
DR reports that the referendum comes more than a decade after Iceland walked away from membership talks in 2015. The Danish broadcaster spoke with Pawel Bartoszek, chair of the Icelandic parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and a member of the Liberal Reform Party.
Bartoszek told DR’s radio program P1 Morgen that he hopes for a yes. He argued that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made more Icelanders aware of the value of alliances, both NATO and the EU. According to him, the same trend is visible in Finland and Sweden.
He also pointed to economic arguments, especially for homebuyers. Per Bartoszek, Icelanders pay eight to nine percent on housing loans, compared with three to four percent in the EU. He expects food prices to fall in a similar way.
A close race in the polls
The latest survey gives the yes side 51.3 percent and the no side 48.7 percent, DR reports. Only last month, the yes side led with 53 percent. Reuters attributes those figures to a Maskína poll of respondents who had an opinion.
BBC describes the vote as knife-edge and cites the same numbers. The broadcaster stresses that any final membership deal would still have to be put to a second referendum in Iceland.
Reuters notes that Saturday’s ballot asks only about reopening negotiations, not about immediate membership. In separate reporting, the agency says fisheries are likely to be the hardest issue in any talks. A yes vote could be followed by more than two years of bargaining with Brussels.
According to Reuters, a memo from the Icelandic foreign ministry estimates that accession talks could begin by the end of 2026. The same memo puts the length of those negotiations at 18 to 24 months. AP also underlines that the referendum is only a first step.
Why the question returned
Iceland opened membership talks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, which had shaken the country’s economy. Those negotiations were dropped in 2015, once Iceland had recovered, DR reports.
Bartoszek told DR that opinion in Iceland has shifted since then. He said the government that took office after the 2024 election is more pro-European. He added that support for Western alliances has risen broadly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is part of what has pushed Iceland toward the EU.
Looking at the polls, Bartoszek said the race is tight but with a small lead for the yes side. He described himself as relatively optimistic ahead of Saturday’s vote.
