Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU
Iceland votes on whether to restart talks on joining EU
冰岛就是否重启加入欧盟谈判进行投票
Icelanders are voting in a referendum to decide whether to resume talks on joining the European Union, 13 years after they were broken off. 冰岛民众正在进行全民公投，以决定是否重启加入欧盟的谈判。此前，相关谈判已中断了13年。
In an indication of how tight the result is expected to be, the latest opinion poll put the No campaign in the lead with 51.6%. An earlier poll had put the Yes campaign ahead. 最新的民意调查显示，“反对派”以51.6%的支持率领先，这预示着此次投票结果将非常胶着。而早先的一项民调曾显示“支持派”处于领先地位。
Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir’s centre-left government had already intended to hold a referendum, but turbulent international affairs prompted her to bring it forward. 总理克里斯伦·弗罗斯塔多蒂尔（Kristrún Frostadóttir）领导的中左翼政府本就有意举行公投，但动荡的国际局势促使她提前了这一进程。
But the debate was fought less over Nato member Iceland’s security concerns than over its vital fishing industry and sovereignty. 然而，此次辩论的焦点并非作为北约成员国的冰岛所面临的安全担忧，而是其至关重要的渔业和国家主权问题。
Voting is due to go on from 09:00 to 22:00 GMT on Saturday and the result is expected in the early hours of Sunday. 投票于周六格林威治标准时间09:00至22:00进行，预计结果将于周日凌晨揭晓。
Iceland has a population of under 400,000. More than one in five voters had already cast their ballots in early voting before Saturday, according to Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV. 冰岛人口不足40万。据冰岛公共广播公司RUV报道，超过五分之一的选民在周六之前已经通过提前投票投出了自己的一票。
What is the vote about?
此次投票的内容是什么？
The question on the ballot is: “Should Iceland resume accession negotiations with the European Union?” 选票上的问题是：“冰岛是否应该重启与欧盟的入盟谈判？”
Although Iceland is already part of the EU’s single market and Schengen border-free zone as part of the European Economic Area, EU membership would bring it into the customs union and eventually the euro. 尽管冰岛作为欧洲经济区的一部分，已经加入了欧盟单一市场和申根免签区，但成为欧盟成员国将使其进入欧盟关税同盟，并最终采用欧元。
Iceland’s application to join the EU was already well advanced when it put talks on hold in 2013, and European Commission officials have indicated that talks could be finalised in one or two years. Of the 35 so-called chapters of talks ranging from fisheries and economic policy to freedom of speech and free movement of goods, 27 had begun and 11 of them were provisionally complete. 冰岛在2013年暂停谈判时，其入盟申请已取得相当大的进展。欧盟委员会官员曾表示，谈判可能在一年或两年内完成。在涵盖渔业、经济政策、言论自由和商品自由流动等领域的35个谈判章节中，已有27个章节启动，其中11个已初步完成。
A Yes vote would not be a final decision on joining the EU. It would mean backing a move towards an accession agreement. Any deal would then have to be approved by a second referendum, as well by parliament, and the constitution would have to be amended. The EU’s 27 member states would also have to sign it off. 投赞成票并不意味着最终决定加入欧盟，而是支持推进达成入盟协议。任何协议随后都必须经过第二次公投和议会批准，且必须修改宪法。此外，欧盟27个成员国也必须签署同意。
One Yes-campaign group, “Yes to See”, says Icelanders should at least see what deal they can get, so they have all the information before a final decision. 一个名为“Yes to See”的赞成派团体表示，冰岛人至少应该看看能谈成什么样的协议，以便在做出最终决定前掌握所有信息。
Equally, a No vote would not rule out the chance of Iceland resuming talks in the future. 同样，投反对票也不会排除冰岛未来重启谈判的可能性。
What are the key issues?
关键议题是什么？
Sovereignty has been a crucial issue in the pre-referendum debate. Iceland fought hard to become fully independent from Denmark in 1944, and its fishing and marine industries make up almost 40% of exports. 主权问题是公投前辩论的核心。冰岛在1944年为从丹麦完全独立进行了艰苦斗争，其渔业和海洋产业占出口总额的近40%。
The No campaign fears losing control over Iceland’s prized fishing grounds under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and has vowed never to share the country’s waters with anyone. Brussels has indicated Iceland could earn some kind of exemption, but it is considered potentially the biggest obstacle to any agreement. 反对派担心在欧盟的“共同渔业政策”下失去对冰岛宝贵渔场的控制权，并誓言绝不与任何人分享本国海域。布鲁塞尔方面曾暗示冰岛可以获得某种豁免，但这被认为是达成任何协议的最大潜在障碍。
Many Icelanders remember the so-called Cod Wars with the UK that Iceland won in the 1970s. And fisheries was always the issue that stopped Iceland joining the EU before. 许多冰岛人还记得20世纪70年代冰岛战胜英国的所谓“鳕鱼战争”。渔业问题一直以来都是阻碍冰岛加入欧盟的关键因素。
However, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the collapse of Iceland’s banking system, Reykjavik moved to start accession talks in 2009, only to bring them to a halt in 2013. Iceland is now one of Europe’s most affluent nations and Eirikur Bergmann, professor of politics at Bifröst University, told the BBC that “many people attribute this to Iceland’s independence”. 然而，在2008年金融危机和冰岛银行体系崩溃后，雷克雅未克于2009年启动了入盟谈判，但随后在2013年将其叫停。冰岛目前是欧洲最富裕的国家之一，比弗罗斯特大学政治学教授埃里克·伯格曼（Eirikur Bergmann）告诉BBC，“许多人将此归功于冰岛的独立”。
One Icelandic trade union survey suggested this year that the country was the most expensive in the world, far pricier than its Nordic neighbours. 冰岛一个工会组织今年的调查显示，该国是世界上物价最高的国家，远高于其北欧邻国。
Although it has the fifth highest GDP (economic output) per capita in the world, interest rates are stubbornly high at 8% and inflation has climbed to 5.6%. Yes campaigners argue that the economic benefits of the EU would help bring the rates down. 尽管冰岛的人均GDP（经济产出）位居世界第五，但利率却顽固地维持在8%的高位，通胀率也已攀升至5.6%。赞成派认为，欧盟带来的经济利益将有助于降低利率。
What are Iceland’s security concerns?
冰岛的安全担忧是什么？
Iceland may be a founder member of Nato but it has no military and relies on its allies for defence. A bilateral US defence agreement has been in place since 1951 and the No campaign has said Iceland’s security rests on both Nato and the US, and that EU membership is not a substitute for Nato. 冰岛虽是北约创始成员国，但没有军队，国防依赖盟友。自1951年以来，冰岛与美国一直有双边防务协议。反对派表示，冰岛的安全依赖于北约和美国，欧盟成员国身份无法替代北约。
Iceland has been a strong supporter of Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion and officials have viewed Russia’s increased maritime manoeuvres near the island with alarm. 在俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰期间，冰岛一直是乌克兰的坚定支持者，官员们对俄罗斯在冰岛附近海域日益频繁的军事演习感到担忧。
However, there has also been concern at US President Donald Trump’s expressed interest in taking over Greenland - especially the fact that he has confused it with Iceland. 此外，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普曾表达过收购格陵兰岛的兴趣，这也引发了担忧——尤其是他曾将格陵兰岛与冰岛混淆。
This year the EU and Iceland signed a security and defence partnership, and EU officials said the EU “offers an anchor in a community of values, prosperity and security”. 今年，欧盟与冰岛签署了安全与防务伙伴关系协议，欧盟官员称，欧盟“在价值观、繁荣与安全的共同体中提供了一个锚点”。
What do the Yes and No campaigns say?
赞成派和反对派怎么说？
Ahead of the referendum, the two sides held a televised debate where the Yes campaign team was headed by Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir and the No campaign was led by Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, chair of the opposition Independence Party. 公投前，双方举行了电视辩论。赞成派团队由总理克里斯伦·弗罗斯塔多蒂尔领衔，反对派则由反对党独立党主席古德伦·哈夫斯坦斯多蒂尔（Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir）领导。
Kristrún told the audience that Iceland was already well integrated in the European Union, and becoming a member would be “one of the biggest risk-reducing steps we can take”. She also made clear that a Yes vote did not necessarily mean that Iceland would join, and that if there was a No vote, the result would be respected. 克里斯伦告诉观众，冰岛已经与欧盟深度融合，成为成员国将是“我们能采取的最大的降低风险的举措之一”。她还明确表示，投赞成票并不一定意味着冰岛会加入，如果投票结果为反对，该结果也将得到尊重。
Guðrún, meanwhile, stressed that the vote was not about whether Iceland should work well with Europe: “We already do, and we want that to continue.” 与此同时，古德伦强调，此次投票并非关于冰岛是否应该与欧洲保持良好合作：“我们已经在这样做了，我们也希望这种合作继续下去。”
Instead, she portrayed the referendum as a vote on whether Icelanders wanted to hand “decision-making powers” to Brussels on fisheries, agriculture and their natural resources. 相反，她将此次公投描述为冰岛人是否愿意将渔业、农业和自然资源的“决策权”移交给布鲁塞尔的投票。