Do you think Iceland joining the EU would be good for the EU and for them?

I'd personally like if they joined, but I can't see how it would be beneficial for them

dont know if its such a good idea for them, given their tiny population size.

everyone in the eu then gets the right to live there.

thats ok when you're a germany or spain sized country, it would take millions to dilute your individuality.

but theres only 380,000 of them. and an eu pool of 440 million.

norway or swiss id say hop on in, they have the numbers to keep their native influence over their country.

but icelanders would soon have new arrivals from wherever coming over telling them what to do, on the local level.

it would only take some kind of economic boom and the arrival of 50k over a decade. next thing they know some blow-in from wherever is in authority in their town/workplace and telling them whats what.

Yes. Makes sense. There's a danger of them being more isolated in a world where open trade is likely to be replaced by tarrifs going forward.

Dont get the swamped by newcomers issue. Luxembourg is also small.

Half the population of Luxembourg weren't born there. That would be a drastic change to Iceland.

https://statistiques.public.lu/en/recensement/nationalites.html

Iceland has a tiny population, wouldn't make much impact on the EU itself.

Iceland already has had EU-style Freedom of Movement since 1992.

Back then it was introduced with all EU countries as part of the then new EEA agreement and also, separately, with all EFTA countries (by updating the EFTA agreement). It should be pointed out also that if a new country joins the EU, all EFTA EEA counties must introduce Freedom of Movement with that new EU country. However, in the unlikely event of a country joining EFTA, there is no obligation whatsoever on any EU country to introduce Freedom of Movement with that new EFTA country.

Hence, as people from EU/EFTA countries have had the right to move to Iceland for decades, whether or not Iceland joins the EU is not going to alter the pre-existing EEA Freedom of Movement arrangements and associated population movements. The only difference if they joined would be you’d arrive in Iceland as a fellow EU citizen moving to a fellow EU country under EU law, instead of as an EU citizen moving to an EFTA country under EEA agreement law!

Don't they?

The EU council accepted in 2010 that they did, what's changed since then?

At a meeting on 17 June 2010, the European Council noted that Iceland met the Copenhagen criteria and decided that accession negotiations should be opened. The Council agreed on a framework for negotiations with Iceland on 26 July 2010, officially starting the accession negotiations.

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/enlargement/iceland/#:~:text=At%20a%20meeting%20on%2017,officially%20starting%20the%20accession%20negotiations.

As an aside, I think the government of Iceland were in favour of joining but the people were not.

id expect they have their own immigration regime set by local elected govt.

(edit: kiteviews post seems to have corrected me on that)

I can't see much sense in them not joining in that case. They're basically hanging around the door and gawking in.

Iceland is the reverse brexit cat.

Though it is quite some time since the government of Norway engaged in any sort of negotiation to join and the people twice rejected membership in referendums.

Do you think Iceland joining the EU would be good for the EU and for them?

No.

Joining the EU would likely see Iceland with 5, possibly 6 MEPs and a commissioner. That would certainly allow them more influence in shaping rules and policy than they currently have (none, directly at least) but, with the move across the EU institutions to qualified majority voting and reducing the veto, not as much as they might hope for.

I have huge respect for Iceland and in particular their actions after the last financial crisis. That independence of action would likely be precisely what Icelanders see as the price for EU membership. They have much of the benefits already via EFTA/EEA and while there are benefits to be had from a voice in Parliament & Council, Icelandic interests are currently well aligned with those of the Danish and they still have influence there that they may well fell allows their "rule taker" status to be less onerous than it seems.

It's something they'd need to consider carefully. If they're doing OK as they are I'd say stay out. I'd have no objection to them joining.