What would EU membership mean for energy and Icelandic sovereignty over natural resources?
What would EU membership mean for energy and Icelandic sovereignty over natural resources?
Iceland has already adopted the majority of EU energy legislation through the EEA partnership (European Economic Area), and the effects beyond that would likely be limited.
In the 2009 - 2013 EU accession negotiations the chapter on Energy (Chapter 15) was opened and negotiations were ongoing when the accession negotiations were put on hold.
The negotiating objectives were:
- To ensure ownership of Iceland's energy resources and the right to manage them.
- To retain exemptions and adaptations already secured under the EEA.
- To affirm that Iceland is not connected to the EU’s electricity market and that any decision on such a connection would be Iceland's to make.
- Iceland requested an adaptation period until 2030 regarding minimum crude oil reserves.
See more information in the memorandum by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs at the request of the Althing's Foreign Affairs Committee on 17 April 2026 (in Icelandic).
See Chapter 15 of the EU accession negotiations in 2009 - 2013 (in English).
See complete overview of all chapters of the 2009 - 2013 accession negotiations (in English).