Ex-Iceland PM: EU referendum result won't force restart of accession talks

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REYKJAVÍK — The leader of Iceland’s Centre Party doesn’t think his country’s upcoming referendum binds Reykjavík to reopening discussions on joining the EU — even if voters back the “Yes” campaign, he told POLITICO.

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, whose opposition party currently polls at around 15 percent , was Iceland’s prime minister when the country dropped its previous bid to join the EU in 2015 over the issue of fishery quotas.

He argued that the wording of the referendum question is so loose, its mandate could be satisfied by simply asking Brussels what it would offer Iceland if it joined the bloc, and then dropping the accession process.

“If I become foreign minister or prime minister later, have I fulfilled this simply by asking the EU, ‘what are you willing to give us?’ And is my job done?” wondered Gunnlaugsson. “They can’t explain how to honor the vote if it’s a ‘Yes,’” he said, referring to the current Social Democrat-led government.

The right-wing politician rose to prominence during the 2008 financial crisis as the spokesperson for a campaign against using Icelandic taxpayer money to bail out the country’s largest bank and repay foreign creditors in the U.K. and the Netherlands. He founded the Centre Party in 2017.

Gunnlaugsson describes his party as “small ‘c’ conservative and centrist” — though some of his opponents disagree.

“People sometimes call us populist, and it always annoys me because I always see myself as anti-populist. I’m always talking about things that are difficult to explain, and I’m always annoyed about how politics is becoming all about just the surface and easy ideas,” said Gunnlaugsson.

In June of this year, however, his Centre Party joined the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, which includes right-wing nationalist parties that often receive the populist label, such as Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law and Justice party.

A geopolitical vote

On Aug. 29, Icelanders will answer either “Yes” or “No” to the question: “Should negotiations on Iceland’s membership in the European Union start again?”

A Gallup poll in mid-August gave the “Yes” camp a slight advantage, with 51.5 percent support .

U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland — Iceland’s closest neighbor — have added a geopolitical dimension to the vote, with pro-EU campaigners, such as former Reykjavík Mayor Dagur Eggertsson, citing it as a reason why Iceland needs a closer relationship with the bloc.

But Gunnlaugsson played down the American leader’s reported desire to make Greenland the 52nd U.S. state .

“I can understand that it’s both annoying and worrying for our friends in Greenland and in Denmark,” he said. “But I don’t think we should read too much into the hyperbole.”

Adding that he never thought there was “a real chance” of an invasion, he said: “I always saw this as one of his shenanigans.”

The Schengen factor

Speaking about Schengen zone membership, which allows passport-free travel in and out of the country, the Centre Party chief said Icelandic politicians needed to be bolder about taking up border controls.

“Just in recent weeks, we’ve seen many, many countries in Europe go against Schengen,” said Gunnlaugsson, referring to reactions from Europe’s capitals over the influx of unauthorized migrants from Morocco into Ceuta, Spain. But, he added, he didn’t think Iceland should leave the Schengen zone in case of a “No” win.

In a separate interview with POLITICO, the Centre Party’s 29-year-old deputy chair Snorri Másson was more scathing about the Schengen zone and the free movement of people into Iceland.

“We’re a small nation. 400,000 people, unique culture, unique language. And, you know, the number of immigrants has just skyrocketed in the past few years,” he said. Másson explained he didn’t want Iceland to exit the European Economic Area, which enshrines the right to the free movement of people. But, he added, a revision may be in order.

“If we’re genuinely headed toward actually losing control over our demographic destiny, then of course I would want to respond to that,” he said. “That’s just obvious for me.”