EU tries to turn the page on enlargement after Iceland's vote against new talks

EU officials downplayed the fallout from Iceland's referendum defeat as Brussels tried to keep the momentum for enlargement alive at a high-level meeting in Dublin. European Affairs Ministers from EU member states and candidate countries met in Dublin to discuss the enlargement process in the wake of Iceland's vote. On Saturday, Icelandic voters rejected reopening accession talks with Brussels, frozen since 2013 by 52.8%. I regret the decision of the Icelanders not to come back to the accession process. Why? Mostly because they are part of common market. What they say, they are part of Schengen. But our European Union is much, much more than just those two things. The EU Commissioner said the result doesn't mean the EU has become less attractive. This Irish minister pointed to the progress made by Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine. Icelandic people voted the way they did. What can we do? They made the decision. I think there was a very specific issue there in Iceland, which was obviously the issue of the marine industry, fishing. That has no impact on what we're doing today. The candidate countries are working hard to continue the accession process. Montenegro is on track to become the bloc's 28th member by 2028, and Albania is following closely behind.