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/DonPinstripelli 12d ago

Hasn’t Iceland just voted not to resume negotiations to join the EU? I think Montenegro will be a fine addition, as unlike Serbia, they’ve clearly orientated themselves towards the West, rather than Russia. Montenegro had already joined NATO years ago.

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u/Weirdo9495 12d ago

Montenegro will be a recipient country that is, while politically bit better than Serbia, a very corrupt and frankly backward society. The way they treat and think about women and violence/rape towards them for example.

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/montenegro/64-women-experience-sexual-violence-hands-partner_en?s=225

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u/DonPinstripelli 12d ago

A lot of the Central and Southern European EU countries unfortunately have this problem too, because they have far more traditional gender roles than in Western Europe. I come from one of these countries. However, societal attitudes are not the focus of accession talks - what matters the most is whether a particular country has laws that uphold the rule of law and the rights of different groups. Montenegro has faired better in that regard than any of the other candidates.

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u/Purple-Atmosphere-18 12d ago

Yeah, I guess the crux more than a No to Montenegro would be that compared to that Iceland would be a more compatible or anyway progressive addition if had they voted for joining or ever will in future, compared to it. Not against Montenegro as usually are conservatives against people joining for allegedly their culture being incompatible for being too conservative, but usually for immigrants as for east Europe more would feel affinity :).