BAUER: ICELANDERS UNDERMINED NARRATIVE ABOUT EU

VIENNA, SEPTEMBER 4 /SRNA/ - Iceland voting not to continue negotiation on accession to the EU had undermined the narrative that the block is a club that everyone wants to join, said Austrian Minister for Europe Claudia Bauer.

She noted that if the EU deny membership to those that want to join the block, it will affect the credibility of the union itself.

"Iceland voting results don't help the idea that the EU is a club that many people want to join," Bauer told Politico.

Referendum on whether to continue the negotiation on EU accession was held on August 29, and most of the Icelanders - 53 percent - voted against.

Iceland has applied to join the EU in 2009, after global financial crisis.

In 2013, negotiations were frozen by then-new government of Iceland, partly because of the disagreements with Brussels over fisheries and agriculture.