Calls for a referendum on NATO

Resolution will be put forward in Iceland's parliament later this month, when MPs return after their summer recess, calling for a referendum on the country's membership of NATO. In spite of having no standing army the country has nevertheless been a member of the defense alliance since 1949.

Ögmundur Jónasson, MP for the Left Green Movement, has confirmed to this website he will put the resolution forward with the backing of his parliamentary group. According to Jónasson NATO's nature has changed fundamentally in the last couple of decades and therefore the Icelandic people should be given a vote on the matter.

„My firm opinion is that NATO is a risky partnership for us for various reasons. I believe that a small country like Iceland should stay out of military alliances. Iceland should be an advocate of peace and justice but not military interests of large powers which is what NATO first and foremost serves,“ he says.

This is not the first time such resolution is proposed. During last term when the Left Green Movement was in government with the Social Democratic Alliance Jónasson and the Left Green parliamentary group unsuccessfully proposed a similar resolution. When asked why that attempt did not succeed Jónasson said the social democrats' support for Iceland's membership of NATO was well known.