A little more than two-thirds of Icelanders want to complete accession talks with the European Union and put the matter up for public referendum, although support is still sharply divided along party lines.
A recent poll conducted by Fréttablaðið and Stöð 2 asked respondents: “Which would you rather choose: 1) withdraw Iceland’s accession application to the European Union, or 2) complete accession negotiations with the European Union and hold a public referendum on the general treaty?”. Of those contacted, 89.1% responded.
In total, 65,3% favoured completing negotiations while 34.7% want Iceland to withdraw from accession talks. The number of supporters is up slightly from last September, but shows about the same results as the same poll conducted last January.
This average divided by party lines shows some big differences, however. 56.4% of Independence Party voters want to complete talks, while only 36.7% of Progressives say the same. The biggest levels of support came from Social Democrats, 94.6% of whom support finishing negotiations. Their partners in the ruling coalition, the Leftist-Greens, were less supportive – only 76.2% of their voters want to see accession talks finalised.
As talks continue, the larger issues that will have to be worked out concern fishing rights and agricultural policy – two major points of contention for many Icelanders regarding whether or not to join the EU.
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