Iceland holds knife-edge referendum on EU - and it could be decided on fish - BBC News

On Saturday, Iceland will vote on EU membership talks, amid economic and geopolitical tensions.

Image source, AFP via Getty ImagesImage caption, Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir (C) supports Iceland joining the EU

Inside a waterfront factory, workers in hairnets and blue overalls are sorting freshly caught cod and haddock, and machines process the fish into fillets, mostly bound for Europe.

Visir fishing boss Pétur Pálsson, who fears joining the European Union would cost Iceland jobs and drive factories abroad, says: "If we are in the EU, they will be the ones who make the policy."

On Saturday, voters in this island nation of almost 400,000 people will decide whether their country should resume talks on joining the EU. It is a referendum that polls suggest is too close to call.

Supporters think closer European ties could help tame Iceland's volatile currency and soaring cost of living.