Iceland to Hold EU Membership Referendum on the 29th... Is It Responding to Greenland Annexation Talk?

[Financial News] Iceland, the island nation located at a strategic Arctic point between Norway and Greenland, will hold a referendum on whether to join the European Union (EU) on the 29th (local time). Foreign media outlets said U.S. President Donald Trump's push to annex Greenland has stirred debate in Iceland.
In a report on the 25th, the U.S. political outlet Politico said Trump's aggressive moves had strengthened support among Iceland's EU backers. On the same day, local media outlet Vísir reported that a recent poll showed 51.3% in favor of resuming EU accession talks, compared with 48.7% against.
With a population of only about 400,000, Iceland has long faced both inducements and threats from East and West because of its location near the Arctic Ocean and the former Soviet Union. After gaining independence from Denmark in 1944, Iceland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Although it has no military or intelligence agency, Iceland is protected by NATO on the condition that foreign troops are not permanently stationed there. In 1951, it signed a mutual defense agreement with the United States.
Iceland, a wealthy Arctic nation with the world's fifth-highest GDP per capita, is not an EU member, but it already belongs to the European Economic Area (EEA), allowing relatively free trade with the bloc. It is also part of the Schengen Agreement, which recognizes free movement across member states while accepting much of EU law.
Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009, after the collapse of three major domestic banks pushed the country into a severe financial crisis in 2008. As the country recovered from the downturn, it froze accession talks in 2013 amid fears that the eurozone, which uses the euro in 21 countries, could unravel because of the debt crisis in southern Europe, including Greece. In March 2015, it asked the EU to remove it from candidate-country status.
Iceland's biggest reason for changing course was security. As global warming and the opening of Arctic shipping routes have prompted Russia and China to accelerate development in the region, Iceland has drawn the attention of major powers. U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office last year, had openly claimed even before his inauguration that Denmark's Greenland should be annexed. Billy Long, the U.S. ambassador to Iceland, also sparked controversy in January by telling U.S. lawmakers in a private meeting before his appointment that "Iceland will become the 52nd state of the United States" and that "I will be the governor."
Marta Kos, the European Commissioner for Enlargement, said, "Iceland, which is already part of the European single market, could complete accession talks within one to two years." If Iceland completes EU membership around 2028, it would surpass Malta, with a population of 590,000, and become the EU's smallest member by population.
Meanwhile, opponents of EU membership argue that joining the bloc could cause Iceland to lose its independent legislative and regulatory powers. In particular, they worry that the country could lose control over fisheries, a key industry that accounts for 40% of exports.
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