Kos says 47% of Icelanders support EU membership

Marta Kos, the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, says 47% of Icelanders support joining the bloc, mbl.is reported. She said the referendum held in Iceland last weekend concerned EU membership rather than only the resumption of accession talks.

Kos said she regretted Iceland’s decision not to return to the accession process. She made the remarks to journalists yesterday morning outside informal meetings of the EU Council held in Ireland in recent days.

She did not rule out Iceland joining the EU in the future, but said that decision was up to Icelanders. Kos noted that support for membership stood at about 19% in 2010, when Iceland was a formal candidate country.

She said the increase indicated that support for membership was growing and that future accession could not be ruled out.

Kos also said misinformation had played a significant role in last weekend’s referendum. She attributed it to both domestic and foreign forces, from eastern and western countries.

Morgunblaðið sought clarification about which forces she was referring to, but had not received a response yesterday. An EU spokesperson said only that misinformation was generally present in discussions about EU enlargement and represented a continuing challenge.