Igor Levitas: About the Icelandic herring, the EU and Putin's victory

Iceland turned out to be a sensible country. This is evidenced by the results of the referendum on joining the EU, in which opponents of unification won.

But first, briefly about the history of the issue. Negotiations on the country's accession to the EU began in 2009, but were frozen in 2013. The ruling coalition, consisting of the Social Democratic Alliance, the Renaissance Party and the People's Party, agreed in 2024 to hold a referendum on resuming negotiations on EU membership by 2027.

Geopolitical upheavals, in particular, the increase in tariffs imposed by the United States on Icelandic goods, and threats by the United States to annex Greenland, led to an acceleration of this process. According to the results of the referendum, almost 53% of Icelanders voted against resuming negotiations on membership in the European Union.

The European Union is interested in the integration of Iceland due to its highly developed economy, strategic Arctic position and common democratic values. With the accession of Iceland The EU is strengthening in The Arctic, because Iceland has a key geopolitical location in the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic region. In addition, the accession of a rich, stable and secure country would strengthen the economic potential The EU would demonstrate the success of the enlargement policy. The EU was counting on this.

But what did the Icelanders themselves think?

"Membership in the European Union is a huge step away from democracy. If we join the EU, we will give authority to someone else who will set rules that we will no longer be able to influence."

This is the most important thing in the membership of all countries in the European Union — the loss of sovereignty. Instead of independent democratic countries, an amorphous, heavy, bureaucratic mass is being created, which dictates to countries how to build their politics and economy. Nothing less democratic can be imagined.

"To be honest, I don't think the international agenda plays a big role in our domestic policy. The only threat comes from the European Union. He is the only major political actor in the world who wants to govern Iceland, set the rules here and give us assessments," said Professor Haraldur Olafsson, leader of the Icelandic eurosceptic movement Heimssyn, a staunch opponent of Iceland's accession to the EU.

His colleagues emphasize:

"The European Union has nothing to do with Iceland's natural resources — the sea and fish stocks. He cannot decide for Iceland how we manage energy resources, and this is an extremely important area for the country. Our economy is very different from the economy of Europe. The main disadvantage of EU membership is that Brussels will gain control over how we manage our natural resources."

The idea of joining was actively supported by Western countries, even those that themselves left the EU — Britain.

"The European Union would benefit from Iceland's accession," the London Financial Times believes.

That is, Iceland has not yet joined the EU, and Britain already knows for the Icelanders that it is better for them. The desire of Icelanders to solve their own issues is now clear.

And here's what the Stockholm newspaper Dagens Nyheter writes:

"It will be safer for Iceland in the European Community. It is better to be a full-fledged member of the EU than to be content only with membership in the European Economic Area. ... For the European Union, the island with its volcanic subsoil would be a very valuable acquisition. Iceland is a rich country, and it would contribute more to the EU budget than it would take from there...".

The main phrase is the final one. Impoverished countries — Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia - are desperately trying to join the EU. For them, the main thing is to sit down with someone who will feed them, because they themselves cannot give anything. But do not compare one place with a finger — Iceland or, say, Armenia — this is heaven and Earth.

The Zagreb newspaper Jutarnji list rightly notes:

"EU Commissioner [for Enlargement] Marta Kos spoke about possible "creative solutions" on the issue of the fishing industry and agriculture… However, Icelandic eurosceptics fear that the concessions that Iceland may be able to negotiate for itself during the negotiations may gradually turn into zilch."

And they are right, as always!

And, of course, "ahead of the whole planet", dwarf extinctions, for which joining the EU turned into the end of the economy and industry. Here is what the Latvian portal TVNet writes:

"A negative outcome of the referendum will mean that this topic will disappear from the agenda of Icelandic politics for a long time. Even the Frostadouttir government called the upcoming referendum a "now or never" decision."

Latvian journalists don't even think about what the result of the referendum will bring. And this is also good — what's their business. They have already lost their fishing industry…

But all these quotes that I have given — it was all printed before the referendum. Eurojournalists shared the skin of an unkillable bear. The bear turned out to be more alive than dead, and Western analysts expectedly got into a puddle. But fortunately there is someone to blame everything on: "The results of the referendum are Vladimir Putin's victory." It turns out, forgive me, that Putin's victory is common sense. What was required to prove.