The incomprehension of Irish europhiles at Iceland’s decisive rejection of European Union membership talks reveals a fundamental unwillingness to confront the historical record and undemocratic character of the European integration project.
When 52.8% of Icelandic voters rejected the government’s proposal to reopen accession negotiations, the reaction from europhile quarters in Dublin—where the EU has been elevated to near-religious status—has been one of bewilderment. How could a prosperous, progressive Nordic nation choose to remain outside the club that Ireland embraced so enthusiastically?
The answer lies in a history that Irish europhiles have chosen to forget.
Icelanders probably observed what happened to Ireland—a small country that voted “No” to the Nice Treaty in 2001 and was made to vote again until it delivered the ‘correct’ result. They witnessed Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in 2008, only to be forced into a second referendum in 2009, when economic pressure and manipulation secured the required ‘Yes’. What kind of ‘union’ disregards the expressed will of its citizens and demands they vote until they comply?
Irish europhiles, in their incomprehension, fail to acknowledge the institutional realities that Icelanders understood all too well.
The European Commission—the body with exclusive right to propose legislation—is composed of unelected officials who swear allegiance, not to their countries but to the EU. Charles de Gaulle described it as “a conclave of technocrats without a country, responsible to nobody”.
The Council of Ministers makes laws in secret, with approximately 85% of EU Directives agreed privately in committees of civil servants. It is responsible collectively to nobody—the classical definition of an oligarchy.
The European Parliament, for all its democratic pretensions, cannot initiate any EU law. It can only amend draft laws that come from the Commission and Council. This is not a parliament in any meaningful sense.
And the Court of Justice has become a Constitution-Maker, interpreting Treaties in ways that extend EU powers beyond what was agreed, ruling that EU law has primacy over national constitutions.
Icelanders weighed these realities against the modest benefits of EU membership. They recognised that the fisheries sector—a pillar of their economy and national identity—would be placed at risk. Ninety percent of companies in the industry opposed joining the bloc.
The EU’s conciliatory approach on fisheries in the lead-up to the vote was treated with appropriate scepticism. Icelanders had seen how “solemn declarations” and “creative solutions” in Brussels often prove worthless once the treaty is signed. They understood what the Irish have learned through bitter experience: that the EU’s promises are written in disappearing ink. Icelanders recognised this pattern. And they refused to become its next victim. They see the “Solemn Declaration” that was supposed to guarantee Irish military neutrality—the Triple Lock—subsequently written out of history by Ireland’s political Establishment.
The Icelandic vote is not exceptional—it is part of a consistent, continent-wide pattern. Every time the European project has been submitted to democratic judgment, it has been rejected:
Switzerland, 1992 — rejected EEA membership
Norway, 1994 — rejected EU membership
Denmark, 2000 — rejected the euro
Sweden, 2003 — rejected the euro
France and
Netherlands, 2005 — rejected the EU Constitution
Greece, 2015 — rejected EU austerity (only to be forced to accept it anyway)
United Kingdom, 2016 — rejected EU membership
This is not a series of unfortunate accidents. This is a consistent pattern: when the decision is left to citizens, the European Union is rejected. That is why in Brussels they prefer to make decisions away from the democratic process.
Ireland’s experience with the EU should have served as a warning to smaller nations. The Lisbon Treaty gave the EU full legal personality for the first time, primacy over national law, and population-based voting that reduced small countries like Ireland to under 1% of voting weight each.
The six largest EU states now have over 70% of the voting weight in the Council, while the 22 smallest have less than 30%. Small countries have not “pooled” sovereignty to gain influence—they have surrendered sovereignty to become provinces of a German-dominated empire.
The Icelandic vote represents a clear-eyed assessment of what EU membership truly entails. It is not about “opening out to the world”: it is about an accelerating surrender of democratic self-government to unelected technocrats.
Irish europhiles who cannot comprehend Iceland’s choice are those who have willingly blinded themselves to history. They refuse to acknowledge that the EU’s problems are not caused by a lack of integration—they are caused by supra-national integration itself.
The history of European integration is not a story of progress toward peace and prosperity. It is a story of democratic subversion, of elites who learned to despise the people they claimed to serve, of the systematic erosion of the most fundamental right of any democracy: the right of a people to govern themselves.
Icelanders understood this. Their “No” vote was not a rejection of Europe—it was a defence of Democracy.
The incomprehension of Irish europhiles is evidence of how deeply the EU’s anti-democratic culture has corrupted political discourse in its member states, creating a class of elites who have abandoned the very principles they claim to want to defend.
The People’s Movement
Ireland’s Dissolving Neutrality (31 August 2026)
When Helen McEntee hosts the EU Foreign Ministers’ “Gymnich” meeting starting (31 August) at Druids Glen Resort in Wicklow, she will showcase not so much Ireland’s diplomatic autonomy as the country’s true status as a vassal of the European Union.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to attend, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will also visit – all under the banner of Ireland’s Rotating Presidency of the EU Council. Yet this carefully choreographed diplomatic spectacle exposes an unsettling truth: Ireland is being dragged into the proxy war it never chose, while our so-called “national” politicians either turn a blind eye or willingly act as accomplices.
The most absurd detail of this meeting is the invitation extended to Iceland’s Foreign Minister. Just two days before the Conference, on August 30, Icelanders voted 52.8% to 47.2% in a National Referendum to firmly reject restarting EU accession negotiations. Turnout was 82.5% – a resounding “No” from the Icelandic people to the Brussels bureaucracy.
Yet the Irish Government appears wholly indifferent to its neighbour’s democratic choice. Had the Icelandic Referendum gone the other way—had Icelanders narrowly voted to join the EU—the presence of their Foreign Minister at the Wicklow meeting would undoubtedly have been trumpeted by the EU propaganda machine as a victory for “European integration”. But the reality is that the Icelandic people said “No”, and our Government behaves as if nothing happened. Iceland’s Foreign Minister still receives the red-carpet treatment.
One must ask: by what right does a Foreign Minister from a country that just rejected the EU in a popular referendum attend an EU foreign ministers’ meeting? Was the Irish Government so certain of the outcome of the Referendum—or so arrogant—that it could not conceive of any other result?
Even more alarming is that, as the Wicklow Meeting convenes, a group of 11 EU member-states led by Germany and France—Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Sweden—have signed a joint letter demanding an end to the unanimity rule in foreign policy!
According to Euronews, the letter, addressed to EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas, outlines five reform principles, including exploring a shift to qualified majority voting via the “passerelle clause”.
This is no mere technical adjustment. It is a direct assault on Irish national sovereignty.
Ireland’s voting weight in the EU Council has already fallen from 2% before the Lisbon Treaty to less than 1%, while Germany’s share doubled from 8% to 16%. The six largest EU states saw their combined Council votes rise from 49% to over 70%, while the 22 smallest states saw theirs fall from 51% to less than 30%. Now even foreign policy—the last bastion of national sovereignty—is being targeted.
Even the super-europhile Irish Times acknowledges that the veto ensures that small member states like Ireland are not forced to comply with foreign policies that contradict their values.
Yet what does Helen McEntee and her Government colleagues have to say? Silence. Or worse—complicity.
This Wicklow meeting, and the German-led campaign to abolish the foreign policy veto, reveal a disturbing reality: Ireland’s so-called “national” politicians have become completely disconnected from their own citizens.
The Irish people were never asked whether they wanted to hand over foreign policy decisions to Brussels qualified majority voting. They were never asked whether they wanted to be dragged into a proxy war against Russia. They clearly rejected the Lisbon Treaty in 2008, but their will was ignored, the Referendum was rerun, and the Treaty was forced through.
Now the same script is being played out. Without a referendum, without popular consent, the Irish Government is tacitly allowing the EU to strip away our veto in foreign policy. Meanwhile, our political elites are hosting Ukraine’s Foreign Minister and NATO officials in a luxury Wicklow resort, as if none of this concerns the Irish people.
As one commentator observed, the EU has “hollowed out” Europe’s nation-states—formal institutions remain in place, complete with salaries and perks for those running them, but the most important functions have been transferred to the supra-national level. The State itself has become an enemy of its own people.
The campaign by Germany, France and their allies to abolish the national veto in foreign policy is the latest chapter in a decades-long transfer of power from nation-states to Brussels. From the Single European Act to the Maastricht Treaty, from Nice to Lisbon, each successive treaty has stripped powers from national parliaments and governments, gradually transforming Europe’s nation-states into effectively provinces or regions of an emerging federal superstate.
Now foreign policy – the most fundamental expression of national sovereignty – is in the crosshairs.
The Irish Government must vigorously oppose this move at every opportunity. If our Government allows the erosion of our veto without a referendum, it will be betraying the trust of the Irish people. The Irish people must have the final say on any further transfer of power to Brussels.
The Wicklow meeting is a carefully staged diplomatic public performance. But the real drama unfolding behind the scenes is the slow death of Irish sovereignty.
When Helen McEntee hosts the EU foreign ministers at Druids Glen, she should remember: she represents, not Brussels, but the Irish people!
Does she still remember that?
The People’s Movement (31.8.26)
Note: President Connolly was/is a patron of this group, the People’s Movement. Will she have the guts to counter this creeping Brussels power grab? It would be the only way to make the public THINK about the issue.
We are indebted to Philip O’Connor and Jack Lane
for bringing this report to our attention, Ed.
