What would EU membership mean for Icelandic agriculture?

What would EU membership mean for Icelandic agriculture?

The effects would depend on the outcome of the accession negotiations.

Agriculture is covered under Chapter 11 of the accession negotiations. The chapter had not been opened when the accession negotiations were put on hold in 2013. Substantial work on a negotiating position had been done when the accession negotiations were put on hold.

The objective would be to continue to ensure a strong Icelandic agricultural sector grounded in food security, food safety, and regional considerations. It is imperative to ensure sufficient agricultural support contributions to the agricultural sector in order to reach these objectives, even if the form of support would change, including e.g. the elimination of tariff protection on agricultural products deriving from other EU Member States. It is also important that the agricultural sector is granted sufficient room for adjustment upon accession to the European Union.

The two main issues of the negotiations are:

• First, a structure of EU agricultural support under the EU's current Common Agricultural Policy that will allow for greater flexibility for Member States for supporting agriculture and how that support would be implemented in Iceland.
• Second, to ensure a specific solution to support Arctic agriculture given the difficult conditions, with reference to the special arrangements Finland and Sweden secured for supporting agriculture in the northern regions.

It should be noted that the EU’s agricultural policy has evolved so that Member States now have greater flexibility in designing support than before. Proposals for the next programme period, starting in 2028, go even further in towards greater flexibility.

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 11 of the accession negotiations in 2009-2013 on the old accession negotiation website.

See complete overview of all chapters in the 2009 - 2013 accession negotiations.