Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU • Hacker News Board

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#211

Post by eloisant » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

hdx19 wrote: post #28

ktallett wrote: post #2

It's a hard one. I feel the UK were wrong to leave but Norway and Switzerland have a fantastic overall quality of life without and I'm not sure the benefits of membership unless you are financially poor country. Iceland is probably better off joining the Schengen but not EU.

Norway gets all the money it wanted from offshore gas, and Switzerland from being the bank of Europe when world wars happened (not mentioning gold nor laundering). When money is handed down to you like this by geography or history, the benefit of joining the eu and paying more for others is probably not given for the population.

Yes, Luxembourg has a higher GDP per capita than Switzerland, also for banking reasons.

If anything when your economy is based on European countries relying on your banking services, being part of EU makes it even easier for said countries to pour their money to your banks.

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#212

Post by gls2ro » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:53 PM UTC

timonoko wrote: post #128

[redacted] forgot this is Hacker News.

Can you maybe expand this? Are Romanians from North Sea going to fish near Iceland? or did they do that near UK?

And let me ask you an even better question: Is Romania the country you see that has so many derogations from EU laws and can do what they like?

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#213

Post by mattrighetti » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

scrollaway wrote: post #199

mattrighetti wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> While there are reasons not to join, most commenters against it have no clue what they are talking about. Are we supposed to believe you know something about it? Would be helpful to have a different perspective from people who know better or claim to.

The thing is I don’t see you asking that same question to the other Americans in the comment section here making stupid claims, with clearly zero clue on how the EU actually functions. So my question is: why? Why does this comment in particular deserves your attention as a “source your claims” flag, but the other one below about the eu commission being a dictatorship does not?

> The thing is I don’t see you asking that same question to the other Americans in the comment section here making stupid claims, with clearly zero clue on how the EU actually functions.

Well it’s just because I bumped into that comment first, really.

While I agree on the fact that sometimes comments aimed to the EU are overblown and inaccurate it’s also true that lazy answers like “people don’t know what they’re talking about” are not proving anything wrong

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#214

Post by eloisant » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

znpy wrote: post #35

I hope whatever they do they don’t adopt the euro as their currency.

Look what happened to their currency in 2008, at the time they really wished they were using the euro.

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#215

Post by pimlottc » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

glimshe wrote: post #22

ekidd wrote: post #7

> The No campaign fears losing control over Iceland's prized fishing grounds under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy and has vowed never to share the country's waters with anyone. Brussels has indicated Iceland could earn some kind of exemption, but it is considered potentially the biggest obstacle to any agreement. As noted in the article, Iceland's fishing industry makes up something like 40% of their exports. Which…

They export good music too (Bjork and Sigur Ros)!

And Jóhann Jóhannsson (RIP)

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#216

Post by kuboble » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

bsian wrote: post #81

kuboble wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking of Switzerland - no it absolutely is not. Is far from being fully integrated into EU. You have to pay customs on shipments, which can be delayed for weeks on borders. You need to apply for the residence permit and you can lose it for trivially sounding reasons. - E.g. lying on the application which could mean " you mentioned in the application you wull look for job but lied and went to learn the language ins…

They should have considered not lying in their residence permit applications. I mean, what you are saying sounds like completely reasonable reasons to deport someone. They lied because they knew their application would’ve been denied had they said the truth.

Btw - as a eu citizen they can't really deny you. So you can write whatever as a reason to move as long as you have means to support yourself.

My point is, that within EU you can freely move around with no restrictions and having to apply for residence permits.

And the case I mentioned wasn't even lying but a misunderstanding.

In Poland searching for a job is state of mind "I wish someone would hire me".

In switzerland it officialy means provably spending your full time effort on the job hunt.

The person I know couldn't find a job at first so decided to do an intensive German course (5x a week, 4h a day) to increase her hirability.

The immigration officer happily used it as a prove that she actually did not spend all her time looking for job, therefore lied.

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#217

Post by eloisant » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:56 PM UTC

DataDive wrote: post #138

amunozo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen how bad is the Icelandic crown, their prices and their borrowing rates? Adopting the euro is one of the main arguments in favor of joining the EU.

Ok, but why is it the Icelandic crown "bad"? What is the economic cause of it? I do not know much about Iceland, only that, like New Zealand (and Canada), it is sometimes painted as some sort of progressive heaven that the US should aspire to. Then, as you learn more, it turns out life isn't that great there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_kr%C3%B3na#2008_fina...

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#218

Post by somenameforme » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:57 PM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #160

xyzelement wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

A maneauvor whereupon a foreign power allows as many people into a small enclave as already live there (literally 60k into a territory of 80k) cannot be called anything other than "invasion". When did Mexico conspire to help 60k people breach into Texas? Let me know and we can have that conversation, maybe I missed it. As a side-note it was the "dangerous communist leftist" Sanchez which swiftly took control of the s…

The US situation is more nuanced than you're framing it as. Even in Mexico there's largely negative sentiment against illegal immigration, as they also suffer from it with the caravans composed primarily of large numbers of young unattached males from a mish mash of places in South America pass through Mexico. They don't tend to leave happiness in their wake. The majority of Mexicans (55%) want them forcibly deported with a slightly smaller majority (51%) of supporting using the National Guard to carry out and enforce such deportations. [1]

Nobody knows exactly how many have come over, but there are estimated to be around 15 million illegal immigrants in the US, primarily via the southern border. For scale, the largest city in the US is NYC with about 8.5 million people. The 10th largest is Fort Worth, Texas with about 1 million. And that's after multiple waves of amnesty legalized millions more, which obviously did nothing but further incentivize more illegal immigration, exactly as in Spain.

[1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/unauthoriz...

[1] - https://archive.is/KruVX

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#219

Post by surgical_fire » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

fidotron wrote: post #195

surgical_fire wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU commission is just a way for national governments to launder their authoritarian desires through the EU. The commissioner for each country is choser by national governments. It's them pushing that shit. The main problem with it, is that when you vote on national elections, typically you are concerned with local issues. Housing, healthcare, transportation, employment, immigration, etc. Nobody is really thinking…

> The EU commission is just a way for national governments to launder their authoritarian desires through the EU. The commissioner for each country is choser by national governments. It's them pushing that shit. You're both right. The problem is it's the commission that sets the agenda for the parliament. If you inverted it and had the elected parliament set the agenda for the national government appointed commission…

I am as pro-EU as it gets, and I really would prefer if it worked as a true parliament. Instead of commissioners chosen by national governments and a head commissioner, a premier minister chosen by the parliament, and a commission that would only have the power to approve of veto laws that come from the parliament. Hell, the parliament should even have the power to override vetoes.

The way the EU is composed right now, it is designed to be kneecapped by the national governments every time.

Re: Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU

#220

Post by lkbm » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 1:59 PM UTC

MrDresden wrote: post #50

ekidd wrote: post #7

> The No campaign fears losing control over Iceland's prized fishing grounds under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy and has vowed never to share the country's waters with anyone. Brussels has indicated Iceland could earn some kind of exemption, but it is considered potentially the biggest obstacle to any agreement. As noted in the article, Iceland's fishing industry makes up something like 40% of their exports. Which…

> "Iceland's fishing industry makes up something like 40% of their export." That number includes everything involving the fishing industry, such as equipment manufacturing. The size of the actual fishing and value-addative processing is often reported to be closer to 12-15% as a share of GDP. I say this as an Icelander who voted yes in this vote, but would vote no next time if any deal would lead to us loosing contro…

Yeah, and the number also is not of all exports, but of goods exports (as opposed to total, which includes both goods and services).

In 2024, fishing/marine products was ~18% of total exports, which is still a massive deal, but only half as massive. (I believe tourism, the largest "export", is close to 40% of total exports.)