REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelanders voted on Saturday on whether to reopen membership talks with the European Union, with islanders split down the middle after a campaign focused on the cost of living, security, sovereignty and control over fishing waters.
\n\nThe race is too close to call. A Gallup poll on Friday suggested a narrow majority opposed reopening negotiations, a slight shift from earlier surveys that pointed to a narrow lead for supporters of renewed talks.
\n\n“Yes” campaigners backing talks say joining the bloc could ease high interest rates and offer more security in a world unsettled by the war in Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats over another Arctic island, Greenland.
\n\n“No” campaigners argue EU membership would threaten the island’s sovereignty and fishing waters.
\n\n“Today is our encounter with history,” Iceland’s former President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, a campaigner against EU membership, said in a post on social media.
\n\nShould voters say “yes”, that would only open the way to discussions with Brussels. Iceland would then have to hold a second referendum, likely several years later, on whether to join the EU.
\n\nThe European Union, comprising 27 member countries, is one of the world’s largest trading blocs. Alongside Norway and…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business