The parliament of Iceland, the Althing, on Thursday voted in favor of a proposal to authorize the government to apply for membership of the European Union.
The result was 33 to 28 in favor of an EU application. Two MPs abstained.
A final decision on EU membership for Iceland will eventually depend on a referendum.
The result was broadly along party lines with all of the Social Democratic MPs voting for the resolution. The Social Democrats are the bigger of two coalition government parties.
The minority party in the coalition, the Left-Greens, voted mostly in favour, but a few Left-Green MPs voted against. The Left-Green party is opposed to EU membership, but the leader of the party, Mr. Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, finance minister, says it is important to resolve the “European question.”
The vote follows a final round of marathon debates that have lasted for several days. It is expected that Iceland’s application will be sent in time for it to be on the agenda of the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on July 27th.
The vote took more than two hours as the Althing first had to vote on three amendment proposals by the opposition.
Iceland will put any agreement with the EU on membership to a referendum.