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A new poll shows that two-thirds of all Icelanders want to complete accession talks with the European Union.
Support for joining the EU has been steadily rising since the bank collapse of 2008, with an almost complete reversal of support for the measure.
A telephone poll conducted by the newspaper Fréttablaðið shows that 65.4% of those contacted believe Iceland should finish accession talks with the EU. When broken down by party affiliation, however, distinct differences are seen.
Conservatives are split almost perfectly equally on the question of whether to continue accession talks or walk away from the table. 50.9% said they wanted to end talks. Among the Progressives, the results are similar, with only 51.3% wanting talks to continue.
Interestingly, 67.2% of Leftist-Greens want accession talks completed. This is despite the fact that the party’s official platform is against joining the EU, although they do believe the matter should be put to national referendum.
As would be expected, the highest levels of support – 85.3% – came from Social Democrats, who have championed joining the EU since the party’s inception.
Also of note: a similar poll conducted by Market and Media Research last June showed 57.6% of Icelanders wanted to end accession talks.
Tensions between Iceland and the EU have been slightly strained lately, as the former has set a mackerel quota that far exceeds EU limits, prompting the latter to threaten an import ban on Icelandic mackerel.
Related:
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Few Icelanders Consider Joining The EU Important