A fresh opinion poll from Iceland shows that a clear majority of the population are opposed to membership of the EU.

This comes only months before the country is to hold a referendum on whether it should resume its application for membership, writes Nationen.

The no side stands strong

The survey was carried out by Maskína on behalf of the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The figures show that 46 per cent of respondents say no to membership, while 31 per cent take a positive view. The remaining 23 per cent state that they are somewhat positive or somewhat negative on the matter.

Referendum in August

The government in Iceland has announced that a referendum is to be held on 29 August this year. Here the people are to decide whether the country should restart negotiations on EU membership. As regards the actual resumption of negotiations, the figures are more even. Here, 42 per cent reply that they are positive towards negotiating, while 39 per cent are opposed.

Iceland’s Prime Minister has previously stated that the question of membership is connected to the outcome of the negotiations.

“Whether Iceland is to join the EU or not depends on what type of agreement we are able to obtain,” she told Nationen during a visit to Norway in February.

The poll was conducted in March, but the results were not made public until Wednesday through a press release from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Icelandic no majority stands strong, and neither supporters nor opponents appear to have changed their views to any significant extent in recent times.

The survey confirms a persistent scepticism towards supranational governance among the Icelandic population.