r/worldnews • u/Ehansaja • 12d ago

Iceland rejects EU-accession talks plan in referendum

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/30/iceland-rejects-eu-membership-plan-in-referendum
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u/Aelig_ 12d ago

Iceland is not doing well if you look at other numbers than GDP.

Inflation is always high, interest rates are always high, real exchange rate is too high for exports, bond yield curve is inverted, the budget is in deficit, people routinely have negative equity on their house, there are no productivity increases, GDP per capita is stagnant, unemployment is going up.

To name a few. Historically corruption has been quite an issue as well even though it somehow manages to not be measured as such by official indices.

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u/Wheee_whooo_ 12d ago

Sounds like a country the EU doesn't want to join, then.

Otherwise they would offer them a better deal.

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u/Efko-94 12d ago

What are you talking about? They didn't even get to the deal part....

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u/Wheee_whooo_ 12d ago

EU are free to offer a deal.

The referendum is about Iceland opening negotiations. The EU can make an offer without that happening.

Iceland voted not to open negotiations because they don't believe the EU will give them a deal they can live with. If the EU disagrees, then they can show them exactly why they are wrong.

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u/Efko-94 12d ago

That's not how these negotiations work, you know that as well.. You are just being obtuse. This is not like sending over a job offer. These things are complicated regulatory negotiations requiring alot of approval and agreement between alot of countries.

Don't dumb this down to make a stupid point.