00:00Iceland just voted no to reopening the door to the European Union.
00:04So where does that leave the EU's enlargement push?
00:07I don't see this as a setback. I see this as a victory for democracy.
00:11On August 29, a majority of Icelanders voted against reopening the EU accession talks,
00:17frozen since 2013. The government called the referendum a now or never moment,
00:23but the answer was no.
00:24The outcome is that there will not be new negotiations with Brussels.
00:28Iceland can keep its current European Economic Area and Schengen arrangement instead.
00:34The result is legally advisory, but the government pledged to follow it.
00:38By the Prime Minister's own framing, the question may be closed for years.
00:42This doesn't cut Iceland off from Europe,
00:45as the country still applies much of the EU law through the European Economic Area.
00:51It adopts single market rules without a vote in the Council.
00:54It has no seat in the European Parliament.
00:56It keeps full, unilateral control of its fisheries.
00:59So why did Iceland walk away?
01:02The contention was never really about economics, it was about control.
01:06Iceland manages its waters alone, rooted in memory of the 1970s Cold Wars.
01:11The EU's common fisheries policy means sharing waters with 27 governments.
01:15Critics argued, why accept new constraints,
01:18when the European Economic Area already delivers most benefits?
01:22For the EU, this is more than just a lost candidate.
01:25It's a test for its enlargement strategy.
01:28Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine-Brussels has treated enlargement as preemptive security,
01:33officials call it the most credible tool against Russian and Chinese influence in Europe's
01:38neighbourhood.
01:38A wealthy, aligned candidate like Iceland was meant to build momentum for tougher cases,
01:44like Ukraine and the Western Balkans.
01:46Even the US argument didn't fully land.
01:49Iceland sits beside Greenland and Trump's ambitions there were cited as a reason to
01:53seek shelter in Brussels.
01:55Voters didn't buy that.
01:57NATO and the European Economic Area needed a bigger, more binding upgrade.
02:02The EU loses for now a foothold in the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap
02:06and a good headline for a stalled agenda.
02:09So, is this the end of the EU's enlargement geopolitical superpower moment?
02:14Or just one wealthy, comfortable country deciding it already has enough?
02:19Either way, Brussels' bigger, more strategic union just got a harder sell.
02:24For the full story, read our in-depth explainer on euronews.com.
