Iceland and the EU

Iceland and the European Union. Iceland is not a memberstate of the European Union (EU) and has never applied for membership. The country is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), along with Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and in 1992 it signed the EEA agreement with the European Union which was designed to allow the EFTA countries to participate in the European Single Market without having to join the EU.

The present coalition government of Iceland, consisting of the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn), is against joining the EU and the Icelandic people are split in half over the question whether to join or not. According to polls, however, majority of the voters of all the political parties are against membership except for the Alliance (Samfylkingin).