THE FIRST week of September is when European officialdom(官员阶层，官僚体系) returns from a summer spent at the beach, rested and raring to take on(渴望应对，跃跃欲试) the continent’s challenges. Alas, the mood of the rentrée(（法语）重返，复职) has been marred(破坏，玷污) by an unexpected snub(冷落，怠慢) from the mid-Atlantic. In a referendum on August 29th Icelanders voted narrowly not to reopen negotiations to join the European Union. Though the vote hinged largely on local concerns, it was an unwelcome back-to-work surprise for Brussels types(布鲁塞尔官员们). For a club accustomed to discussing how quickly others might join, being told “no thanks” is discomfiting.(对于一个习惯于讨论他国加入速度的俱乐部来说，被拒绝令人难堪。)
九月的第一周，欧洲的官员们结束海滩上的夏日假期归来，精神饱满，跃跃欲试地准备应对欧洲大陆的各种挑战。然而，这股“重返职场”的兴致却被来自大西洋中部的意外冷落所破坏。在8月29日的全民公投中，冰岛人以微弱多数否决了重启加入欧盟的谈判。尽管投票结果很大程度上取决于本地关切，但对布鲁塞尔的官员们来说，这无疑是一个不受欢迎的复工“惊喜”。对于一个习惯于讨论其他国家能以多快速度加入的俱乐部而言，听到“不了，谢谢”实在令人难堪。
Outsiders might have expected Iceland’s referendum to turn on(取决于，围绕) the great geopolitical questions of the age. War is raging in Europe and Iceland’s neighbour Greenland is coveted by Donald Trump, the American president whose ambassador in Reykjavik once joked that the two islands could become America’s 51st and 52nd states.(战争在欧洲肆虐，冰岛邻国格陵兰被特朗普觊觎，其大使曾开玩笑说两岛可成为美国第51、52州。) Most countries that can join alliances to protect themselves are doing so. Sweden and Finland became members of NATO soon after Russia invaded Ukraine. Ukraine has applied to join both NATO and the EU; and Canada—another country Mr Trump imagines as a future American state—is trying to get closer to the bloc(集团，联盟). Iceland, which is already a NATO member, might seem an obvious candidate for the EU as well.
局外人或许原本以为，冰岛的公投会围绕当今时代的重大地缘政治问题展开。战争正在欧洲肆虐，冰岛的邻国格陵兰正被美国总统唐纳德·特朗普觊觎，其驻雷克雅未克大使曾开玩笑说，这两个岛屿可能成为美国的第51和第52个州。大多数能够通过加入联盟来保护自己的国家都在这样做。瑞典和芬兰在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后不久便成为北约成员国。乌克兰已申请加入北约和欧盟；而加拿大——另一个特朗普想象中的未来美国州——正试图与欧盟拉近关系。冰岛已是北约成员国，似乎也理应成为欧盟的明显候选国。
But all referendums are local. Iceland’s fishing industry, which accounts for almost 40% of the country’s goods exports, led the charge(带头冲锋，率先发起) against EU membership. Fishing interests had derailed(使……脱轨，阻挠) Iceland’s previous plan to join the union in 2013, after the country had suffered a crippling(造成严重损害的，瘫痪性的) financial crisis. This time they made the same argument: the union’s rules would allow other countries’ vessels(船只（尤指大船）) into Icelandic waters and impose caps on(对……设置上限) fishing that would hurt exports. The movement against joining was bolstered(支持，增强) by a belief that Iceland can prosper on its own, and that existing arrangements with the EU—along with the country’s membership in NATO—are sufficient.
但所有公投都是地方性的。冰岛的渔业占该国商品出口的近40%，它带头反对加入欧盟。2013年，在冰岛遭受严重金融危机之后，渔业利益曾使该国加入欧盟的先前计划搁浅。这一次他们提出了同样的论点：欧盟的规则将允许其他国家的渔船进入冰岛水域，并对捕捞量设置配额，从而损害出口。反对加入的运动还得到一种信念的支持，即冰岛可以靠自己繁荣，而且与欧盟现有的安排——加上该国在北约的成员资格——已经足够。