Iceland votes to reject reopening EU membership talks

Icelanders voted 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent against restarting negotiations to join the European Union in Saturday's referendum. The country applied for membership in 2009 and withdrew the application in 2013 after a change of government, more than a decade before this fresh no. The vote asked only whether the government should resume talks, not whether Iceland should join outright, but concerns over national control of fishing rights outweighed the security case for closer EU ties. Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir's centre-left coalition had put the question to voters after years of debate.

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