Icelanders´ support for EU membership, which surged in opinion polls following the banking collapse in October, appears to be on the wane once more. According to the latest survey by Capacent Gallup, published in the daily Morgunblaðið prior to last weekend, only 37.7% of respondents favoured EU membership now, compared to 51.7% last October. While 65.5% of respondents wanted to commence accession negotiations in October, only 56.4% were in favour of this now. Just what is behind this change in sentiment is unclear, but it is not unlikely that as EU membership actually comes up for consideration, the question takes on a clearer focus. Clearly Iceland´s EU membership will be among the principal issues in elections expected this spring, and the trend of EU accession support will be much in the spotlight in coming months.
