Jack Power

Yeah, so basically Greenland, for example, is still considered a territory of Denmark.

So that kind of governs most of its relations.

But when it comes to Norway and Iceland, they're part of what's known as the European Economic Area.

So it's something that, you know, we probably don't hear too much about, but it means that effectively they're part of the EU's single market and common economic area.

As a result, they're very kind of enmeshed in the EU system.

They follow the vast heap of the EU rules and regulations that basically allows it to be part, allows both of them to be part of the single market.

And so what's interesting now is there's a bit of a debate in Iceland about maybe going a step further and saying, well, will we have a conversation about joining the EU full in?

No, no, absolutely.

And I think it's worth remembering that for Iceland, and it's actually something that people mightn't know, but they were well on the way to joining the EU a good few many years ago.

They first applied for EU membership back in 2009.

And because they were already part of

you know, the EU single market, things like the Schengen area, which allows borderless, border-free checks when you travel, that basically those negotiations moved pretty quickly at the time.

But basically for...

A number of different reasons in late 2013, Iceland decided to basically hit the pause button on its EU membership talks, in part because a more Euro-sceptic or less Euro-enthusiastic government took over.

But also, you know, you remember at the time, you know, that was in the teeth of the financial crash, which Iceland were hit pretty devastatingly by.

Yeah, I think it's, and I was chatting to a few people in Iceland for some reporting I was doing recently talking about this.

And funny enough, they were kind of saying that the debate in Iceland hasn't really...

kicked off in earnest I mean they're having a referendum this August at the end of August to basically ask the question should we restart these EU accession negotiations and so it's not a you know we're not at the point of an in-out question as you had with Brexit it's a question about a vote to restart the talks rather than enter It sounds like they're having a referendum to have a referendum

A little bit, yeah, because there will be another vote if this one goes ahead and they say, OK, grand, let's kick off back where we started, talking with Brussels officials about the various different lengthy and winding negotiations that go into joining the EU bloc.

And then after all that, the Icelandic government...