REYKJAVIK — Icelanders are voting on Saturday, August 24, 2026, on whether to restart talks to join the European Union. The referendum question asks voters: "Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?"

The Icelandic government moved the vote up from its original plan to hold it by next year following remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump about Greenland. Trump repeatedly called Greenland Iceland four times during his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and said he wanted a "piece of ice, cold and poorly located". The U.S. State Department reassured Icelandic officials that Trump meant Greenland during his remarks.

William Long, the U.S. ambassador in Reykjavik, joked that Iceland would become the 52nd U.S. state and he would be its governor. Long later apologized for the joke, but thousands of Icelanders signed a petition urging the prime minister to reject his appointment as ambassador. "We can’t really trust the U.S. anymore," said Hildur Knútsdóttir, a horror fiction writer who plans to vote in favor of EU membership.

"Trump was not joking about Greenland. There was a lot of fear here in Iceland because if he takes Greenland with force, we’re probably going to be next."

Foreign and Defense Minister Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir supports joining the EU. She said Trump’s actions emphasized the importance of the EU’s collection of small and large nations standing as one with Greenland and Denmark. "That is so important for us to see a group of like-minded nations stand together on principles and values. That is also what I’m looking at when I see the European Union in this volatile world," she said.

When she asks people from smaller countries such as Ireland, Finland or Luxembourg whether they feel they've lost their sovereignty, "they look at me like I’m a crazy woman" and say membership has made them stronger.

Hulda Thorisdottir, a political science professor at the University of Iceland, said that for both sides of the debate, the issue is a matter of sovereignty. She said EU proponents see the issue through the lens of a rapidly changing world in which shifting alliances pose a security risk. Being outside the EU makes Iceland vulnerable and threatens its sovereignty, she said.

Haraldur Olafsson, a physics professor and chairman of Heimssyn, a Euroskeptic group that opposes EU membership, argued against the move. "The independence of Iceland is the most precious resource that we have," he said. "The possibility of making your own law and deciding how things are done is essential." Concerns about joining the EU Common Fisheries Policy, which would allow Spanish, Dutch and other trawlers into Icelandic waters, have been a key sticking point to joining the EU.

Einar Sigurdsson, chairman of Isfelag fishing company, predicted that European fishing vessels would enter Icelandic waters. Heiðrun Lind Marteinsdóttir, CEO of Fisheries Iceland, said the seafood trade organization does not oppose joining the EU if there is a permanent opt-out from the fisheries policy, but she noted that would be unprecedented. "I think we need to be very realistic on the negotiation process and what we can get out of the negotiations. To be honest, I think, we’re aiming high," she said.

If voters reject the proposal, the issue of EU membership negotiations would be put to rest. A yes vote would lead to a yearslong negotiating process with the European Commission assessing 35 sets of criteria, including financial systems, fisheries, transport networks, agricultural regulations, and freedoms such as speech and religion. Any agreement to join the EU would need to be approved by all current EU member nations, and voters in Iceland would have the final say on whether to join after an agreement is reached.

Iceland won its independence from Denmark in 1944. The country fought the Cod Wars with Britain to win control of its fishing grounds in the 1970s. Iceland applied for EU membership in 2009 after the country’s banking sector collapsed during the 2008 global financial crisis, though Icelanders did not vote on the decision to apply at that time.

Accession talks were suspended in 2013 after a center-right government came to power, and EU accession talks with Iceland formally ended in 2015. Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir’s center-left coalition government was elected in 2024 on a platform that called for a vote on EU membership. Iceland has a population of 400,000 people and is a member of NATO. It participates in the EU’s single market through the European Economic Area and is part of the Schengen free-travel zone.