European nation braces for Brexit-style vote as expert says joining EU is ‘worst decision’

A country set to vote on joining the European Union has been urged to vote no against the proposal by a leading political scientist. Professor Haraldur Ólafsson, who is leading the ‘no’ campaign in Iceland, says joining the EU would be a poor business decision for the country.

Ólafsson noted that Iceland already has its own trade and fishing policy, it is already part of the EU’s single market, meaning it already follows the bloc’s regulations. Some believe joining the European Union would make little sense because of these financial regulations but also because leaving the international body further down the line would prove tricky.

Ólafsson, whose Keep In Control campaign drew from the UK’s Take Back Control Leave campaign slogan in the Brexit referendum, told The Telegraph that it does not make sense for Iceland to join the European Union.

He said: “I would suggest that becoming a member of the European Union is the worst business idea Iceland could think of, and being a member is a huge step away from democracy as we know it.

“The conclusions we can draw from Brexit are that you are not supposed to leave the EU. They would make it as and if we had the euro, it would go from being difficult to being impossible.”

Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir’s centre-left coalition government in Iceland, elected in 2024, said it wanted to hold a vote by 2027. This timeline has been sped up by nearly a year after threats made by US President Donald Trump aimed at Greenland.

It is not the first time Iceland has considered joining the European Union either, with the country applying to join the bloc in 2009 following the 2008 global financial crisis. Talks were suspended in 2013, when a centre-right government came to power, and they formally ended in 2015.

Concerns over being forced to share its North Atlantic fishing grounds with European nations has been flagged a concern by those standing against the country’s plan to join the European Union. Iceland is set to vote on their European Union membership on August 29.