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What Iceland's 'No' vote means for ties with the EU · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Voters in Iceland have rejected resuming talks and joining the
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  Speaker 1: European Union. The final result was relatively close, with nearly
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  Speaker 1: 53% voting no, while just over 47% voted in favour.
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  Speaker 1: EU membership talks were previously halted 13 years ago by
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  Speaker 1: a government that opposed closer ties with the bloc.
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  Speaker 2: A nation of only 400,000, the relatively wealthy island would
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  Speaker 2: have been a welcome new member from Brussels' point of view.
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  Speaker 2: Iceland has debated joining the EU for years. It began
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  Speaker 2: the application procedure in 2009, after a banking crisis crashed
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  Speaker 2: the economy. A Euro-sceptic government withdrew from talks in 2013.
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  Speaker 2: In the run-up to the vote, Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir
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  Speaker 2: said a no vote would put an end to the
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  Speaker 2: EU membership debate on the North Atlantic island. She had
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  Speaker 2: campaigned for a yes position, but she promised to respect
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  Speaker 2: the people's decisions. One of the main issues in the
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  Speaker 2: debate over the years has been fishing rights. Fishing is
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  Speaker 2: one of Iceland's main industries and there is a fear
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  Speaker 2: that joining the union would mean giving up access to
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  Speaker 2: Iceland's rich fish stocks. The morning after the vote, the
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  Speaker 2: mood of Icelanders on the streets reflected the relatively close
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  Speaker 2: 53 to 47 percent vote and the fact that the
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  Speaker 2: vote was about starting talks, not about accession itself.
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  Speaker 1: Because we were just voting on seeing the menu basically,
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  Speaker 1: like What's in the package? People have been putting it here.
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  Speaker 2: And why would you vote no?
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  Speaker 3: Why would you vote no? Why would you be against it?
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  Speaker 2: Many were more concerned about the division the vote has
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  Speaker 2: sown in Icelandic society than the result itself. I think we,
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  Speaker 2: as a nation, we need to work through these results
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  Speaker 2: in collaboration because I think it opens up for a
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  Speaker 2: challenge to unite 50 plus 50%. on each side. The
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  Speaker 2: result will not affect Iceland's already close links with Europe.
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  Speaker 2: It remains a member of the European Economic Area and
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  Speaker 2: the Schengen border-free zone.
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  Speaker 1: For more, let's bring in DW's Terry Schultz, who joins
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  Speaker 1: us now from Reykjavik. So, Terry, that result was relatively close,
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  Speaker 1: but what was it that ultimately persuaded enough Icelanders to
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  Speaker 1: reject restarting the EU talks?
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  Speaker 3: Mariana, they actually thought the result might have been even
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  Speaker 3: closer than it was. And while some people said they
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  Speaker 3: would only make up their minds when they entered the
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  Speaker 3: polling stations yesterday, what it really came down to was
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  Speaker 3: where people lived and where their interests lie. And there
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  Speaker 3: was just no way the yes side in the end
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  Speaker 3: could convince those people in the agricultural and fishing communities
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  Speaker 3: that going into talks with the European Union would see
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  Speaker 3: their interests and their livelihoods protected. And it's You can't
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  Speaker 3: overstate how indivisible fishing and Iceland's identity is. I'm standing
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  Speaker 3: right here where the government gave its press conference after
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  Speaker 3: the result, and out the window I was watching at
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  Speaker 3: the same time people working on their boats. That's how
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  Speaker 3: close it is, and it's just ever-present here. And in
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  Speaker 3: the end, it came down to how people felt, and
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  Speaker 3: plenty of people feel like they are close enough to
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  Speaker 3: the European Union as it is, and they want to
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  Speaker 3: take care of the rest on their own.
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  Speaker 1: And what message does this result then send to Brussels,
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  Speaker 1: especially as the EU is looking to expand across the continent?
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  Speaker 3: Well, to be fair to the EU, it's mostly countries
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  Speaker 3: wanting to join, asking to become members of the EU.
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  Speaker 3: That's what they're more used to than the situation here
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  Speaker 3: in Iceland, where they're saying, we don't want to actually
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  Speaker 3: talk about becoming closer to you. But the prime minister
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  Speaker 3: was asked about this, actually, whether Brussels could have done
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  Speaker 3: more to convince those skeptics that, you know, they could
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  Speaker 3: be protected inside the EU, inside the negotiation talks. And
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  Speaker 3: The Icelandic government had asked the EU to basically stand
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  Speaker 3: aside so they could have a real clear impression of
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  Speaker 3: what people thought. The prime minister said she wasn't sure
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  Speaker 3: whether there could have been any arguments coming out of
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  Speaker 3: the EU that would have changed people's minds. That said,
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  Speaker 3: the EU would have been very happy to have Iceland
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  Speaker 3: decide to reopen talks. And they'd been told that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: since they had actually put in an application in 2009...
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  Speaker 3: It could be a very quick process. I mean, it's
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  Speaker 3: a wealthy, highly educated country, a rule of law country.
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  Speaker 3: So Iceland could have become a member if talks had
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  Speaker 3: been started in as little as two years. So I
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  Speaker 3: think there's probably some disappointment in Brussels as well as
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  Speaker 3: in the government itself.
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  Speaker 1: And is this the final word? So does this referendum
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  Speaker 1: settle the question for a whole generation or could the
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  Speaker 1: debate return in a few years perhaps?
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  Speaker 3: Again, the prime minister, who herself is quite pro-EU, was
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  Speaker 3: asked about this. And she said, look, people have told
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  Speaker 3: me what they think. They don't want to do this.
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  Speaker 3: And I am listening. She said, but look, we couldn't
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  Speaker 3: have predicted the things that are happening now if we
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  Speaker 3: looked at the world 18 months ago. And of course,
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  Speaker 3: between the lines there, she's talking about... seeing the United
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  Speaker 3: States threaten Greenland, a very close neighbor, sometimes saying Iceland,
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  Speaker 3: perhaps by mistake. So she said, I can't rule anything out.
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  Speaker 3: But she'll say, I am listening to what the people
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  Speaker 3: told me today, and I am not going to bring
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  Speaker 3: up this subject again. It's very difficult to hold a
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  Speaker 3: referendum every two years. And she said, we are going
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  Speaker 3: to put this issue aside for now. But of course,
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  Speaker 3: she won't rule it out for future governments, perhaps even
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  Speaker 3: if she herself is head of future governments. But for now,
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  Speaker 3: I expect we're not going to be hearing more about this, Mariana.
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  Speaker 1: That was DW's Terry Schultz for us in Reykjavik. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much, Terry.