00:00Greenland is 290 kilometers away from Iceland.
00:03It's a very short distance.
00:05And when they are threatened, we are threatened as well.
00:09Donald Trump wants Greenland.
00:12That is causing unease in Iceland,
00:14where many wonder if their island could be targeted by the U.S. next.
00:19Could joining the European Union protect Iceland's sovereignty?
00:23Some want to prevent that at all costs.
00:27Iceland will have to follow all EU laws,
00:31no matter how inconvenient and costly they are.
00:35Iceland is holding a referendum to gauge the national mood.
00:41In Reykjavik, Icelanders are returning from summer vacation.
00:46Now they are plunged into a feverish voting cycle.
00:51Sneros SindordĂłttir runs an art gallery.
00:53But now she's organizing the Yes! campaign for EU accession negotiations.
01:00We just start the engines and next weeks will be crazy, you know.
01:08Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has already changed a lot for Icelanders.
01:13Now Donald Trump is adding to their concerns.
01:16I think definitely security would be increased if we enter the EU.
01:20We are already a founding nation of NATO.
01:23We have the defense treaty with the United States.
01:28But given the situation in the United States,
01:31I think it would be wiser to lean up against our true allies and friends in Europe.
01:38Only around 400,000 people live on the world's largest magmatic island.
01:43They are used to facing the harsh environment, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on their own.
01:49But proponents of EU membership also see the benefits of joining a larger alliance.
01:56I think it would be a strength for Iceland to join a union, you know, where decisions are being made
02:01together in unity.
02:05For now, the vote is only about accession negotiations.
02:09A decision on whether to join the EU would be decided later in a second referendum.
02:15Physics professor Haratur Olavsson is an outspoken Eurosceptic.
02:20He too is fully immersed in the campaign, working up to 12 hours a day.
02:25We are basically here to explain to the people that being members of the European Union is a huge step
02:32away from democracy.
02:35We are giving the power to someone else in another country that will never give it back
02:42and will make rules that we cannot possibly control.
02:46It's very, very costly to apply for membership.
02:50You need to have hundreds of people working on reading laws and comparing Icelandic laws and European laws
02:57and committees that need to be established in every single field of the society.
03:05Just a few meters away sits Iceland's parliament,
03:08where the question of accession negotiations is also divisive.
03:12The Europeans also must understand that a small nation like ours,
03:19maybe we have a bigger voice outside the Union than in the Union.
03:23In the European Parliament, we would have approximately six seats out of 726, I think.
03:29We are afraid of that we will just disappear in this mass that the European Union is.
03:36It's a security question also to be a part of a bigger trade book.
03:41And, of course, we can see that Europe is stepping up when it comes to defence.
03:46So, you know, there are definitely places where the European Union has a role,
03:50for example, when it comes to hybrid threats and similar threats.
03:56Commercial fishing has brought prosperity to Iceland.
03:59At the port of Reykjavik, this industry is a contentious referendum issue.
04:05If Iceland becomes a member of the European Union,
04:09the European Union governs fishery in the waters around Iceland.
04:14Haraldtur has supporters here who oppose joining the EU.
04:18Fishing and sovereignty are closely linked in Iceland.
04:24We will never give our freedom to the European Union.
04:29We in Iceland know exactly how to do in Iceland.
04:32We don't need any help from abroad for that.
04:36And I think it's just not in our genes.
04:40We are so stubborn and independent.
04:44Few places symbolize the desire for self-determination,
04:47quite like the historic Icelandic parliament, located in what is today a national park.
04:53Representatives of the people first gathered here a thousand years ago.
04:57It's the heart of Icelandic democracy.
04:59And yet Iceland has only been fully independent since 1944.
05:03To have regained independence a short time ago,
05:07that makes the whole issue of national sovereignty a very sensitive and emotional issue
05:12for most Icelanders.
05:17This is where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
05:21But today, the continents are pulling the country apart politically.
05:29Sneros' gallery will have to wait for the time being.
05:32The referendum demands all her energy.
05:35It's a question of principle for the 34-year-old mother.
05:40Mostly to me, it's like, where do we belong? Who share our values?
05:44Where is the cradle of democracy and human rights in the world?
05:49And that's within the European Union.
05:51It's not in Asia. It's not in America.
05:54Both pro-EU Sneros and Euroskeptic Haraldur are courting the many undecided voters this August.
06:01The EU issue has divided Iceland like another fault line,
06:05at a time when this island in the middle of the Atlantic needs unity more than ever.
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