COPENHAGEN, March 6 (Reuters) – Iceland should hold a referendum on August 29 on resuming talks to join the European Union, the Nordic country’s government said on Friday, fast-tracking a pledge to hold the vote no later than 2027 at a time of geopolitical unrest.
Reykjavik in 2013 abandoned EU membership talks after four years of negotiations, but a rise in the cost of living and the war in Ukraine in recent years rekindled the island nation’s interest in joining the bloc, polls have shown.
Repeated threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to annex Greenland, located between Iceland and the United States, also made the question of EU membership more pressing for the North Atlantic country, home to almost 400,000 people.
Foreign Minister Katrin Gunnarsdottir told a press conference the government’s decision on the proposal was unanimous, public broadcaster RUV reported.
The outcome of the membership negotiations with the EU will be subject to a second referendum on whether to join the bloc.
(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)
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