Iceland just friend-zoned the EU

Voters chose market access without submission, showing that Brussels is not the only path between dependence and isolation Well, what do you know! It turns out that you really can crawl into bed with Brussels on your own terms, and be friends with benefits, all without the need to officially shack up.

The people of Iceland have just done something that would usually be considered political blasphemy here in Europe.

They’ve decided that their country would like to remain in charge of itself, voting 53% to 47% in a referendum not to pursue getting officially hitched to the EU.

It’s a rarity these days to see a show of democracy that’s something other than just a midwife delivering whatever Brussels wants.

It even had to be warned by elected officials not to meddle.

Icelanders considered just the idea of continuing EU accession talks, which was the subject of this referendum – not even “do you want EU membership or not,” but only “should even we keep playing footsie with Brussels over it” – and decided that they didn’t need a ring on their finger in order to keep their toothbrush in Brussels’ bathroom.

Iceland already has access to the European common market through the European Economic Area (EEA).

What else could it possibly gain from greater submission to Brussels that would actually make it worth surrendering any more of its autonomy? Much has since been made of comparisons to the UK and Brexit, arguing that Iceland’s inclusion in the EU’s common market isn’t true independence and that if it were, then the UK wouldn’t have needed to withdraw from the EU entirely.

But they’re comparing a bitter post-divorce Brexit deal with a country being wooed.

Do you treat your ex-wife like your new girlfriend? Read more Icelanders give cold shoulder to EU’s ‘bureaucrats and warmongering’ (VIDEO) Iceland gets market access without becoming part of the EU’s full political and institutional machinery, with all the constraints and impositions that alone brings.

EU law has primacy over its member states’ conflicting national law, which is a fundamentally different legal relationship from Iceland’s as a non-member.

And then there’s the matter of Icelanders wanting to retain control over their country’s primary assets – fisheries and agriculture.

It knows exactly what Brussels is eyeing up and down.

So basically, they’re saying, “Why would we voluntarily make ourselves less capable of deciding what happens here?” It probably doesn’t much help that the EU has developed a real talent for taking relatively straightforward questions and feeding them into a regulatory meat grinder to the point where nobody remembers what the original issue was.